Using Terminal Services through an RDP connection typically makes things such as CTRL-ALT-DELETE trickier than using a dedicated desktop or thin client terminal. Tied with this Group Policy settings to protect a multi-user system can be used to prevent access to certain facilities such as Ctrl-Key combinations and the Task Bar. However it is often desirable to still allow users to lock their remote desktop during periods when they are away from their desk.

A simple way of allowing the user to lock their desktop is to create a shortcut icon on the desktop and entering the following into the “Type the location of the item:” box:

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Give the Shortcut a useful name such as “Lock Desktop” and copy and paste it into the profiles of your users.

You can change the default icon, using the Change Icon option, to make its purpose more apparent.

Useful icons can be found in the Shell.dll file at:

 %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll