Lock screen does not engage when lid close and plug into power supply

[Bernard_Huang]

Hi all,

I feel silly for asking this, but I'm the Mac support for my company and a few people have asked me the same question.

We have went into System Preferences > Security and Privacy > General. Require password is set to immediate when the Macbook is in sleep or screensaver.

We noticed that if we have the Macbook plugged into power, when we close the lid, wait a few seconds/minutes, then open, it does not require password to log onto Macbook.

If we are using battery (no power supply plugged in), then when we close the lid, it would immediately go to sleep, and therefore will ask for password when opening the lid and starting.

We have also went into System Preferences > Energy Saver , and experimented with a few settings. Nothing helped.

As a user in a company, we want to lock our computers immediate as we go about our day.

So, anyone else experienced the same thing? Anyone know of a work around? We are using OSX 10.10.5 Yosemite, btw. Would El Capitan fix this little behaviour?

[Bernard_Huang]

I think Shift Control Power will make the Macbook go to sleep.
Is this the best way? or anyone know more about the closing lid settings?

[KarmaL · Accepted solution]

As a workaround i am using the below method...though extra work but does the job.

Open Keychain Access
Open its Preferences by clicking on Keychain Access on menu bar. Click the checkbox for “Show status in Menu Bar”:
This will bring a Lock Icon on menu bar on Desktop Screen.
Click on Lock Icon and click on Lock Screen

[AVmcclint]

What you're seeing might be the mechanism that allows you to use your laptop with an external monitor while the lid is closed. The requirement for that to work is that it is plugged in for power. Closing the lid in this case specifically doesn't put the computer to sleep so when you open it, there's no need for a password to unlock it.

[Bernard_Huang]

Thanks @KarmaL & @AVmcclint ,

Understood. Yes, using external monitor means closing the lid will still have the Macbook running. That is what we have setup in our office. And thank for the easy work-around.