Solved Launch Screensaver immediately

Ken · Jun 11, 2024

Hello,
I want to be able to invoke screen saver immediately, without waiting for timeout.
I have located the .scr files and made a desktop shortcut to Ribbons.scr. When I double click on it a panel pops up asking me to select an app to open it.
None of the apps offered launch the screen saver.
Can you advise me on how to do this ?
Thank you.

glasskuter · Jun 11, 2024

No need to put the file on your desktop.In search type "screensaver" then set screensaver, open it, and change the same way you did past OSes. Choose ribbon from the drop down arrow.

antspants · Jun 11, 2024

Ken said:
I want to be able to invoke screen saver immediately, without waiting for timeout.

Not sure that is possible?
You can invoke “Sleep” as far as I know, possibly even from within the context menu, I’m sure there is a registry fix for that.

antspants · Jun 11, 2024

You could investigate the following:

Start screensaver with keyboard or desktop shortcut (Windows) - Screensavers Planet

OAT · Jun 11, 2024

Hi,

By going in:

Code:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Containers\Layers\8e50a24c-ed80-419c-bb7f-2d15bc8d004c\Files\Windows\System32

and double clicking on Ribbons.scr triggers the screensaver, you can also create a shortcut.
Have you modified the default extension behavior?
Go to to the command prompt (cmd.exe) and type in:

Code:

assoc | more

Make sure the .scr file extension is associated as a scrfile.
so :

Code:

assoc .scr =scrfile

You can then drop the shortcut in, Unsure why you want to do this

Code:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Unsure why you want to do this and I have not tested this.

Scott · Jun 12, 2024

Ken said:
Hello,
I want to be able to invoke screen saver immediately, without waiting for timeout.
I have located the .scr files and made a desktop shortcut to Ribbons.scr. When I double click on it a panel pops up asking me to select an app to open it.

Not sure why this isn't working for you. I can start all my screen savers from desktop shortcuts.

From a Admin command prompt run this

Code:

sfc /scannow

If it ends with repairing files, run it again until it comes back clean with Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Then run this

Code:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If that doesn't work your best bet might be Sytem>Recovery. I ran it the other night out of boredom, after making a fresh backup, which wasn't needed as my computer came back exactly the same.

Ken · Jun 12, 2024

Hi All, and thanks for your help.
I have tried your suggestions, but to no avail.
As Scott says: I have tried admin command prompt with sfc /scannow.
It responds with message:

"Beginning system scan.This process will take some time.
There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete.
Restart Windows and run sfc again."

So I do a restart and run it again, but same result.

I then tried: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
This eventually responds with "The restore operation completed successfully"

But when I double click on the .scf file it still asks me to select an App

OAT suggests I try:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Containers\Layers\8e50a24c-ed80-419c-bb7f-2d15bc8d004c\Files\Windows\System32
However, in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ there is no file or folder called Containers

The assoc command is not recognised in my command window.

I have also made a shortcut that points to:
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -command "& (Get-ItemProperty ‘HKCU:Control Panel\Desktop’).{SCRNSAVE.EXE}"
When I execute it something that looks like a command window pops up for about half a second, and that's all -- no screensaver.

My reason for this: It would just be nice to have a single click or keypress which invokes the screensaver.
Not crucial, can live without it, but it doesn't seem much to ask.

OAT · Jun 12, 2024

Ken said:
Hi All, and thanks for your help.

Thank you for your update.
The errors you mentioned seem to hide further problems with your system.
What is that SCRNSAVE.EXE you invoke? It sure isn't on any of my systems as it is strictly a 32 bit executable.
None of us who replied had any issues starting the screensaver(s) from a shortcut.
The sfc requesting a reboot that is never acknowledged is also an abnormality.

I would strongly suggest a Repair Install.

Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade

This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything. If you need to repair or create a new recovery partition or having problems with the Windows 11 operating system on your PC, and the usual solutions will not fix it...

www.elevenforum.com

Assoc cmd command - GeeksforGeeks

A Computer Science portal for geeks. It contains well written, well thought and well explained computer science and programming articles, quizzes and practice/competitive programming/company interview Questions.

www.geeksforgeeks.org

If you do not want to go that route but rather check if there are any user hive corruption, you could also create a new user,
and try to launch the screensaver.

Ken · Jun 12, 2024

I will try a Repair Install. Thanks

Ken · Jun 12, 2024

Hi, I have completed a Repair Install.
sfc /scannow now runs correctly to completion without any integrity violations.
So I then ran: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Again successfully completed,
But problem persists -- when I click on the .scr file it asks me to choose an App.

I guess I'll just give up.
But thank you all anyway for your advice.
Ken.

antspants · Jun 12, 2024

Ken said:
I guess I'll just give up.
But thank you all anyway for your advice.
Ken.

Hi Ken.
I just want to confirm, you tried the various suggestions on this page?

Start screensaver with keyboard or desktop shortcut (Windows) - Screensavers Planet

Windows can be a pain. What works for one often doesn’t work for another. It is a dilemma.

Ken · Jun 13, 2024

Hi,
Yes, I've tried Screensaver Planet -- no success.
The Power Shell shortcut does not work
Only suggestion that works is Saver Starter, but that is just as clunky as going to Settings.
I'll try putting the problem on its message board.

pseymour · Jun 13, 2024

Could you open a command prompt, run the following two commands, and paste the results here?

Code:

reg query "HKCR\.scr"
reg query "HKCR\scrfile" /s

Ken · Jun 13, 2024

Hi pseymour,

reg query "HKCR\.scr"
Returns no result at all.

reg query "HKCR\scrfile" /s
Returns following:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile
(Default) REG_SZ Screen saver
FriendlyTypeName REG_SZ @shell32,-10162

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\config
(Default) REG_SZ C&onfigure
MUIVerb REG_SZ @shell32.dll,-10209

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\config\command
(Default) REG_SZ "%1"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\install
(Default) REG_SZ &Install
MUIVerb REG_SZ @shell32.dll,-10210

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\install\command
(Default) REG_SZ rundll32.exe desk.cpl,InstallScreenSaver %l

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\open
(Default) REG_SZ T&est

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\open\command
(Default) REG_SZ "%1" /S

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shellex

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shellex\DropHandler
(Default) REG_SZ {86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}
--------------------------------------------------

I hope you can make some sense of above.
Ken.

pseymour · Jun 13, 2024

The second command results look correct, but the first one does not. Try OAT's command from earlier

Code:

assoc .scr=scrfile

I know you said the assoc command wasn't recognized. Make sure you're running it in a command prompt, not a PowerShell window. assoc is not a valid command in PowerShell. Also make sure you run the command prompt as Administrator.

Ken · Jun 13, 2024

I was using PowerShell.
I have now tried assoc .scr=scrfile in Admin command window.
It echoes the command and that's all, just goes back to command prompt.

pseymour · Jun 13, 2024

Yes, it should return .scr=scrfile. Does double-clicking the screen saver shortcut work now?

Ken · Jun 13, 2024

YES, it does. Success at last!

I must remember that quirk with PowerShell having some different commands.
Many thanks to you and the others for your help.

Can close this thread now.

Best regards, Ken.

antspants · Jun 13, 2024

pseymour said:
Yes, it should return .scr=scrfile. Does double-clicking the screen saver shortcut work now?

Nice, well done to you, and OAT

pseymour · Jun 13, 2024

It’s all OAT. I just clarified some things.

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