Group policy based configuration
Group policy can be used to automatically configure the idle session settings across a fleet of machines. Installing the application will also install the group policy definition (ADMX) file. When you open the group policy management console, you will see the Administrative Templates\Lithnet\IdleLogoff section.
- If you enable this setting, then the agent will be activated and will perform the specified action after the session has been idle for the time you specify.
- If you disable the setting, then the agent will be disabled and no action will be performed on an idle session.
- If you leave it as ‘not configured’, then whatever the local administrator of the PC has manually configured will take effect.
| Settings | Description |
|---|---|
| Idle timeout (minutes) | The number of minutes that must pass with no user interaction before the specified idle action is performed |
| Ignore sleep prevention requests | Some applications, such as media playback, tell the system not to go to sleep, even though no user input is taking place. By default, Idle logoff respects this setting, so the user will not be logged off during video playback or a conference call. You can choose to override this by selecting this option. When enabled, the user will be logged off based only on the idle time. |
| Wait for initial user interaction before starting idle timer (kiosk mode) | When this setting is enabled, the idle timer will not start counting until a user has interacted with the session. This allows you to leave a new session logged in and ready for use, but ensure that it is logged off once a user has interacted with it, and gone idle. |
| Action | Specifies the action to take once the session has reached it's idle time limit. You can log off the user, reboot the computer, or shut the computer down |
- If you enable this setting, the agent will show a warning message before the idle action is performed
- If you disable this setting, the agent will never show a message before the idle action is performed
- If you leave it as ‘not configured’, then whatever the local administrator of the PC has manually configured will take effect.
| Settings | Description |
|---|---|
| Duration of warning message (seconds) | The number of seconds to display a warning message for. If the idle action is set to 10 minutes, and this setting is set to 60 seconds, then the message will appear after the user has been idle for 9 minutes. |
| Warning message text | Allows you to customize the warning message shown to your users. Use the placeholder {0} in your message to show the remaining time the user has before the idle action takes place |
Group policy will always override whatever has been set locally.
Running the installer will only install the ADMX files on the local machine. If you use Group Policy management tools on another machine, you will not see the settings. You will need to either install the ADMX files on that machine, or you can copy the ADMX definitions to the SYSVOL folder on the domain. See the following guide from Microsoft on how to set up a central policy definition store https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/3087759/. The ADMX files can be copied from %SystemRoot%\PolicyDefinitions\Lithnet on the machine they are installed on.
Note that the ADMX files are only required for editing group policy. They do not need to be installed on client machines for the policy to take effect.