vmware and xlock

[Benjamin Elijah Griffin <bgriffin () CDDB COM>]

A few weeks ago I noticed that running the VMware virtual computer
on my linux box I could access the guest OS screen by hitting
<ctrl><alt><F8>. Yesterday I gave that some more thought and
wondered if I could switch displays while xlock was in place.

It turns out that it works. My (brief) testing seems to show the
keyboard and mouse are locked, but it is possible to see what
is on the screen.

Today I looked at the vmware groups at news.vmware.com and saw
that they are aware of the problem but don't seem to consider
it severe.

Server: news.vmware.com
Group: vmware.for-linux.misc
Subject: Full-screen can not be locked

The thread starts with:

Message: 1402
Message-ID: <7r2q0k$n77$1 () london vmware com>

<URL:nntp://news.vmware.com/vmware.for-linux.misc/1402>

And is followed up from someone at vmware with:

<URL:nntp://news.vmware.com/vmware.for-linux.misc/1404>

(Unfortunately news: sheme URLs are not powerful enough for
this, and nntp: URLs don't seem to be widely supported: and
though lynx will fetch the message, it won't let you see
the thread.)

The issue is not restricted to full-screen mode, though that
may introduce other issues.

Workaround: use a screen lock in the 'guest' operating
system(s) you have running when you want to lock your
display.

Benjamin