There's an option in the preference panel to change the time the mac is able to be in sleep/screensaver before requiring a password to be unlocked again. I'm using OS X Lion 10.7. Is there any way to change this setting using the terminal or an applescript? I tried to change the plist file using: defaults write com.apple.screensaver askForPasswordDelay -int 60 also tried defaults write com.apple.screensaver askForPasswordDelay -float 60 also completely disabling the password didnt work either defaults write com.apple.screensaver askForPassword -int 0 The plist file was changed, but it had no effects at all. It's the same plist file that gets changed when manually switching the setting in the preferences. Would be awesome if anyone got an idea how to fix my problem. EDIT: also tried to: 1) add -currentHost flag 2) drop the -int / -float