Increase time before Windows reverts to log-in screen

Question

I am running Windows 7 Enterprise on a Dell laptop and I am connecting remotely to another Windows computer halfway around the globe to copy a huge file from that distant computer onto my laptop.

The laptop needs approximately three hours to copy the huge file. However, either my laptop reverts to the Windows log-in screen or the distant computer reverts to the Windows log-in screen before the huge file is copied. This severs the connection between the two computers and prevents the file from being copied. I am using Cisco Anytime Secure Mobility Client and Remote Desktop Connection to connect the computers.

How can I increase the time each computer is allowed to 'remain idle' before it reverts to the Windows log-in screen?

So far I have tried the following three approaches:

1. Initially I assumed I just had to adjust the time before the screensaver was activated, but I am not using a screensaver on either computer.

2. I also tried opening:

   Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display

   but I cannot find an option there to adjust idle time.

3. I also tried right-clicking the computer icon and looking under Properties and under Manage, but I do not know enough to explore the options under Manage with confidence.

Thank you for any advice.

Answer 1

As has been said previously, do you have access to the network share? - rather than having to use Remote Desktop.

1. When you Remote Desktop to a remote computer you have to know the computer (server)'s address (e.g. server1.example.com or 123.456.789.012, right?
2. If you can connect to the computer by Remote Desktop then you can probably create a shared folder (on your remote machine's "Desktop")(e.g. "myShare") -> right click your folder and click "Share" (put your account as user who has access)
3. From your own computer (VPN in, as you do at the moment) go to \\server1.example.com\myShare to be able to access the folder.

The following should only then rely on the VPN connection (your Cisco connection) being stable and both your machines not going to sleep or any power settings...

Answer 2

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System, create a new DWORD value named DisableLockWorkstation and set value to 1.

See answer in : How do I disable the screen lock in Windows 7?

May see also : Windows 7: Disable Lock Workstation After 10 Minutes Using Group Policy

Answer 3

Here are the steps I used to successfully copy the huge file that required three hours of real time:

On my laptop:

1. right-click on the desktop
2. click on the word 'Personalize'
3. click on 'Screen Saver', even though there is a red circle with a line through it overtop of the screen saver icon and the word 'None' underneath the icon.
4. click on the phrase 'Change power settings' at the bottom of the Screen Saver Settings window
5. click on 'Change when the computer sleeps' on the left-hand side of the new window
6. in the row for 'Put the computer to sleep' and the column for 'Plugged in' I changed the setting to 'Never'
7. click on 'Save changes'

I did the same steps, or very similar steps, on the remote computer on which the huge file was located.

After following the above steps I was able to copy the huge file from the remote computer and paste the file onto my laptop even though the copy-paste process required several hours. I was away from my desk for at least 90 consecutive minutes of that time.

Answer 4

Could you create a share on the location of the file (or a copy the file to a new folder and share that), then copy via the share path without needing to remote desktop on to the other machine?

Answer 5

One of the simplest solutions is to switch into presentation mode.

Open the windows mobility center, can be found in control center, run from a command prompt mblctr.exe or keyboard Windows Key + X

Once in the mobility center turn on presenting, this will prevent the lock out and best of all is easily reversable.