XFCE Session Automatically Logs Out After Inactivity

I’m using a pretty fresh install of Manjaro, and after a period of inactivity, I’m automatically logged out. I did some research and made sure that both xfce4-power-manager/inactivity-on-ac and xfce4-power-manager/inactivity-sleep-mode-on-ac are both set to 0, but the problem persists. The xfce4-screensaver is deactivated, the lock screen is activiated.

Here is my inxi output:

System:
  Kernel: 6.18.36-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 16.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-6.18-x86_64
    root=UUID=8bef167c-d9db-41cb-9f92-f5bec8b8abfe rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet splash apparmor=1 security=apparmor
    resume=UUID=de81a783-07d2-4015-9b4d-d26aa091a484 udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.2 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.52 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: HP product: HP ProDesk 400 G4 DM v: SBKPF
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 6 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: HP model: 83F3 v: KBC Version 07.D5.00 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 4BC39UT#ABA uuid: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: HP
    v: Q23 Ver. 02.31.00 date: 07/08/2025
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 16 GiB available: 15.46 GiB used: 3.86 GiB (25.0%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 32 GiB slots: 2 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 16 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: Channel-B DIMM1 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous size: 8 GiB
    speed: spec: 2667 MT/s actual: 2133 MT/s volts: curr: 1 width (bits):
    data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Micron part-no: 8ATF1G64HZ-2G6E1
    serial: <filter>
  Device-2: Channel-A DIMM3 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous size: 8 GiB
    speed: 2133 MT/s volts: curr: 1 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64
    manufacturer: N/A part-no: DDR4 NB 8G 2400 serial: <filter>
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-8500T bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Coffee Lake
    gen: core 8 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xFA
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 6 cores: 6 smt: <unsupported> cache:
    L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB desc: 6x256 KiB
    L3: 9 MiB desc: 1x9 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3500 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800
    bogomips: 25199
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat
    arch_capabilities arch_perfmon art avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush
    clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64
    dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu
    fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida
    intel_pt invpcid lahf_lm lm mca mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr
    mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge
    pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep
    smap smep smx ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2
    tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic
    xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves xtopology xtpr
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    disabled
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
  Type: old_microcode status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: disabled;
    RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsa status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: TSX disabled
  Type: vmscape mitigation: IBPB before exit to userspace
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20
    ports: active: DP-1 empty: DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e92 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.23 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915
    display-ID: :0.0 note: <missing: xdpyinfo/xrandr>
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Dell G3223D serial: <filter> built: 2022
    res: 2560x1440 dpi: 93 gamma: 1.2 chroma: red: x: 0.686 y: 0.310 green:
    x: 0.275 y: 0.647 blue: x: 0.141 y: 0.059 white: x: 0.314 y: 0.329
    size: 697x392mm (27.44x15.43") diag: 806mm (31.7") ratio: 16:9
    modes: 2560x1440, 1920x1080, 1680x1050, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1280x960,
    1280x800, 1152x864, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 720x576, 720x480,
    640x480, 720x400
  EDID-Warnings: 1: parse_edid: unknown tag 112
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris
    inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.1.2-arch1.2 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:3e92 memory: 15.09 GiB unified: yes
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xprop
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 300/C240 Series Family HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl
    bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.18.36-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.6.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 300/C240 Series Family CNVi Wi-Fi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a370 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: tailscale0 state: unknown speed: -1 duplex: full mac: N/A
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global
  IP v6: <filter> scope: global
  IP v6: <filter> virtual: stable-privacy proto kernel_ll scope: link
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-14:4
    chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.95 GiB used: 27.96 GiB (5.9%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Hynix model: YMTC PC300-256GB-B
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: YM0500C7 temp: 35.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: LITE-ON model: CV8-CE256-HP
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: V8C1 scheme: GPT
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 229.38 GiB size: 229.38 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 27.93 GiB (12.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
    label: N/A uuid: 8bef167c-d9db-41cb-9f92-f5bec8b8abfe
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 27.1 MiB (9.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 label: N/A
    uuid: 4015-A4FB
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 229.38 GiB size: 229.38 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 27.93 GiB (12.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
    label: N/A uuid: 8bef167c-d9db-41cb-9f92-f5bec8b8abfe
  ID-4: /var/cache raw-size: 229.38 GiB size: 229.38 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 27.93 GiB (12.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
    label: N/A uuid: 8bef167c-d9db-41cb-9f92-f5bec8b8abfe
  ID-5: /var/log raw-size: 229.38 GiB size: 229.38 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 27.93 GiB (12.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
    label: N/A uuid: 8bef167c-d9db-41cb-9f92-f5bec8b8abfe
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 label: swap
    uuid: de81a783-07d2-4015-9b4d-d26aa091a484
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 size: 238.47 GiB fs: ext4 label: N/A
    uuid: 18e3c2ea-5a6f-4876-87f7-a36f747839e5
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 16 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-4:2 info: Primax HP Wired Desktop 320K Keyboard
    type: keyboard,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 1.5 Mb/s (183 KiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.0 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 0461:3f41 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: 1-5:3 info: HP HP 125 USB Optical Mouse type: mouse
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 1.5 Mb/s (183 KiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.0 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 03f0:584a class-ID: 0301
  Device-3: 1-14:4 info: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP)
    type: bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.1
    speed: 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C pch: 45.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: 1202 pm: pacman pkgs: 1195 libs: 368 tools: pamac pm: rpm pkgs: 0
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 7
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: https://mirrors.manjaro.org/repo/stable/$repo/$arch
    2: https://irltoolkit.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    3: https://mirror.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    4: https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    5: http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    6: https://manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top/stable/$repo/$arch
    7: https://kartolo.sby.datautama.net.id/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    8: https://mirror.futureweb.be/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 306
  1: cpu: 22.6% command: brave pid: 3249 mem: 379.0 MiB (2.3%)
  2: cpu: 12.6% command: brave pid: 2599 mem: 266.8 MiB (1.6%)
  3: cpu: 12.5% command: brave pid: 2561 mem: 441.9 MiB (2.7%)
  4: cpu: 7.8% command: xfce4-terminal pid: 4707 mem: 64.2 MiB (0.4%)
  5: cpu: 7.1% command: brave pid: 2799 mem: 466.3 MiB (2.9%)
  Memory top: 5 of 306
  1: mem: 466.3 MiB (2.9%) command: brave pid: 2799 cpu: 7.1%
  2: mem: 441.9 MiB (2.7%) command: brave pid: 2561 cpu: 12.5%
  3: mem: 379.0 MiB (2.3%) command: brave pid: 3249 cpu: 22.6%
  4: mem: 360.9 MiB (2.2%) command: brave pid: 2727 cpu: 3.9%
  5: mem: 330.2 MiB (2.0%) command: brave pid: 3237 cpu: 2.7%
Info:
  Processes: 306 Power: uptime: 10m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 6.13 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager
    Init: systemd v: 260 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: gcc: 16.1.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9.1 running-in: xfce4-terminal
    inxi: 3.3.40

I’m okay with just the display going to sleep and the system sleeping, but I can’t figure out how to keep the system from logging out automatically. Any help would be appreciated.

I have no idea honestly (i never leave a pc unlocked and unattended), but do you really need a system that is on and unlocked all the time, i mean the only reasonable reason for something like this will be if you passive watch some statistic/graphic…for which you can just toggle presentation mode (the toggle is in the power/battery indicator and of course deep in the settings.

Alternatively…just set up the screen save to lock after a long time, like 2 hours or so.
Setting it on 0 is probably why logging out occurs. If xfce does not lock, probably systemd detects this and takes this responsibility (without asking). It has some default settings, on some places in the xfce gui settings you are warned that the internal systemd setting takes precedence.

Well that is the default behavior which you changed. In the screensaver settings it even asks if it has to lock the session. As said i never tried to toggle that off for security reasons. I can imagine an override is set somewhere in systemd to log ot if locking is disabled but never tested this scenario.

Try to lock :locked: your session manually and test if it will still log you out. Pretty sure it will not.

I had a typo in my initial post. The screensaver is deactivated. The lock screen is activated and can be manually triggered with ctrl-alt-del.

This PC is in my home and I’m the only user, so leaving it unattended for a bit is no biggie for me.

The thing is, since some update, the screensaver took the locking function. That is why i think those are related.
What do you actually use as locker and as a screensaver? I maintained a config with lightdm as locker and xfce as saver but many had problems with that combo so i went with the default - xfce screensaver as locker and saver.

There is a difference - you are not logged out of the session but the session is locked.

The session is locked when the system enters suspend state.

Configurable events that could influence a screen locking

  • Power management
  • Screen Saver
  • Screen Locking
2 Likes

To test this theory somewhat, just visually compare the login screen after rebooting with the “logging screen after inactivity”. They are (should be) slightly different.

1 Like

Settings Manager > Xfce Screensaver > Lock Screen tab
[Lock Screen with Screensaver] Off

In my case, this prevents my pc from being logged out even when idle.

1 Like

Have turned off all 3 of those and my screens still turn off after 10 minutes.
Also get the time LONGER than 10 and the screens still turn off after 10 minutes.
Note: M.2 drive failed so this is a new XFCE install & is updated.
This did not happen before the drive failure.