Lock Xubuntu Remotely From SSH

In certain situations, such as when administering a remote server running Xubuntu, it can be useful to be able to lock the screen remotely. This can help ensure the security and privacy of the system, especially when multiple users have access to the server. In this blog post, we will walk you through the process of remotely locking the Xubuntu screen from SSH.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you’ll need the following:

• Access to a server running Xubuntu.
• SSH client installed on your local machine.

Step 1: Retrieving the DBUS Session Bus Address

The first step is to open the Terminal app on your local machine and run the following command:

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echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

Make sure to note down the output of this command, as we will need it later in the process.

Step 2: Editing the ~/.bashrc File

Next, we need to edit the ~/.bashrc file on the remote server. This file contains various configurations and settings for the Bash shell. Open the file using your preferred text editor, for example:

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nano ~/.bashrc

Navigate to the end of the file and add the following line:

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export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=[YOUR_ADDRESS]

Replace [YOUR_ADDRESS] with the output you obtained in Step 1.

Step 3: Saving and Sourcing the ~/.bashrc File

After adding the export line, save the ~/.bashrc file and exit the text editor. In nano, you can do this by pressing Ctrl+X, then Y to confirm the changes and Enter to save.

To make the changes take effect, source the ~/.bashrc file using the following command:

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source ~/.bashrc

This will ensure that the environment variable we added is available for subsequent SSH sessions.

Step 4: Remotely Locking the Xubuntu Screen

Now that we have set up the necessary environment variable, we can remotely lock the Xubuntu screen from your local machine. Use the SSH command with the xflock4 command as follows:

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ssh user@server xflock4

Replace “user” with your actual username and “server” with the IP address or hostname of the remote server.

Conclusion

By following this step-by-step guide, you can now remotely lock the Xubuntu screen from an SSH session. This can be particularly useful when managing a server with multiple users, ensuring that the screen is locked when it is not in use. Keep in mind that this process assumes you have the necessary permissions and access to the remote server.