There are several ways to lock your Windows 10 PC, but did you know that you do it with an onscreen shortcut you create? Creating a shortcut to lock your Windows 10 PC can come in handy if you want an easy way to lock your PC without the need for remembering a keyboard shortcut (Windows Key + L), or trying to navigate menus to log out of your Windows 10 PC. Whatever your reason, here’s how to create a shortcut to lock your Windows 10 PC.
1. On your desktop, right-click anywhere and choose New
2. Choose Shortcut
3. Next, you will be prompted to indicate the location of the shortcut. copy and paste the following: Rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
4. Finally, you will be asked to name your shortcut. For this example, I named this shortcut “Lock My PC,” but you can name it whatever you want.
That’s it! You are done. From here, you can click the “Lock My PC” shortcut to lock your Windows 10 PC anytime you step away from your PC. If you are interested in changing the icon of your Lock Your PC shortcut, there is one extra step you will need to do. Most icons that Windows 10 uses can be found in the following two directories; C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll and C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll. Here are the steps you need to follow to change your shortcut’s icon.
1. Right-click your shortcut, choose Properties
2. From the Shortcut tab, choose Change Icon
3. From here, Windows will ask you where you want to look for icons to use. Depending on the locations of your Windows 10 icons, you can choose either C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll or C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll to find the Windows 10 icon that best suits your needs.
4. Once you choose an icon, click OK under the Change Icon window and OK again in the shortcut properties window.
Congratulations! You have successfully changed your shortcut icon. Now, you have an easily identifiable shortcut that you can just double-click any time you want to lock your Windows 10 PC.
How do you lock your Windows 10 PC? Let us know in the comments!
