Mac OS X Yosemite - How to Disable Automatic Logout when idle?

Question

It appears that since I upgraded to OS X Yosemite, and fiddled with some of the energy saver and screen saver settings, that my user is logged out due to inactivity.

Where is the setting where I can turn this off and not allow my user to be automatically logged off when inactive?

Solution 1

The option is found in the System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Advanced dialog.

The first option is a check box with text Log out after [NN - spin button] minutes of inactivity

The spin button enables one to set the number of minutes of inactivity.

Kudos to the user Alistair McMillan who posted the answer over in the AskDifferent stack exchange.

Read the full thread here.

Solution 2

You can prevent your Mac to automatically log out the current user after a set period of inactivity by this way -

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences
2. Click Security & Privacy
3. Click General
4. Click the lock icon 🔒to unlock it
5. Enter an administrator name and password
6. Click Advanced
7. Uncheck “Log out after... minutes of inactivity”
8. Click Ok

You can also check OS X Yosemite: Set your Mac to log out when not in use

Solution 3

Go into System Preferences> Users & Groups> Then click on the button that says Automatic Logout.

Comments

[Dmitri Zaitsev]

There is no "Users", only "Users & Groups". No "Other Options"!

[Christian Butzke]

You can not imagine how long I have tried to find this!! Thanks a lot!! (Each time I woke up in the morning, I got the 'could not logout' message, due to iTerm etc. still being open. Very annoying hehe)

[qxotk]

Nice use of step-by-step written instructions, may I suggest you add step 9 to click the <unlock-icon> to lock the user preferences?

[qxotk]

Excellent reference to the apple support documentation also, well done.

[Elmue]

A button "Automatic Logout" does not exist there.

[qxotk]

I think the answer could be more useful if you also state in your "Caution" that the computer will not be locked at all during the time the display remains on.

[ecbrodie]

This was a lifesaver! The logout was driving me craaaaa-zzzaayyy.

[qxotk]

I see you are a new user. You can improve your answer and possibly earn up-votes by changing from your answer from describing your experience to a "how-to" achieve the goal described in the question when using macOS Catalina. For example:. "In macOS Catalina, Follow these steps: ..." I think that would be useful information to those who read this post going forward.