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This tip is about the how to Lock User Virtual Console or Terminal in Linux. So read this free guide, How to Lock User Virtual Console or Terminal in Linux step by step. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.

How to Lock User Virtual Console or Terminal in Linux – Guide

When you’re working on a shared system, you might not want other users to log into your console to know exactly what you’re doing. If yes, I know a simple trick block my own session and allow other users to access the system in other virtual consoles. Thanks to vlock, it stands for virtual console lock, a command line program to lock one or more sessions on the Linux console. If necessary, you can lock the entire console and completely disable the Virtual Console toggle functionality. Vlock is especially useful for shared Linux systems that have multiple users with console access.

What is vlock?

vlock is a utility used to lock one or multiple user virtual console sessions. vlock is important in a multi-user system, it allows users to lock their own sessions while other users can still use the same system through other virtual consoles. When necessary, the entire console can be locked and also the virtual console toggle disabled. vlock mainly works for console sessions and also has support for blocking non-console sessions, but this has not been fully tested.

Installing vlock on Linux

To install the vlock program on their respective Linux systems, use.

#yum install vlock [On RHEL / CentOS / Fedora]
$ sudo apt-get install vlock [On Ubuntu / Debian / Mint]

How to use vlock on linux

There are a few options you can use with vlock and the general syntax is.

vlock common options and usage

To lock the user’s current virtual console or terminal session, run the following command.

#vlock –current

The -c or –current options mean to lock the current session and is the default behavior when you run vlock.

To block all your virtual console sessions and also disable virtual console toggle, run the command below.

#vlock –all

The -a or –all options, when used, block all user console sessions and also disable virtual console switching.

These other options can only work when vlock has been compiled with plugin support and they include.

The -n or –new options, when invoked, mean switching to a new virtual console before the user’s console sessions are blocked.

#vlock –new

The -s or –disable-sysrq option disables the SysRq engine while virtual consoles are locked by a user and only works when -a or –all is invoked.

#vlock-sa

The -t or –timeout options invoked to set a timeout for the screensaver plugin.

#vlock –timeout 5

You can use -h or –help and -v or –version to view help messages and version respectively.

Final note

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