Unlock Administrator

Unlock Administrator is a security configuration tool that allows a system administrator to specify exactly which users are allowed to unlock a Windows workstation. A computer desktop can be locked in a number of ways including pressing the "Lock Computer" button from the "Ctrl-Alt-Del" menu or configuring Windows to automatically lock the system when the screensaver runs. By default, Windows only allows the current user to unlock the computer. An administrator can unlock the computer; however, the current session will be closed along with all the applications started by that user. As a result, any unsaved work is lost. Users often must resort to powering a system down to regain access.

Unlock Administrator circumvents this problem by offering system administrators the flexibility of specifying which users can fully unlock a computer, as well as which users can unlock the computer forcing the current session to close.

Unlock Administrator works in conjunction with Microsoft's Windows Graphical Identification and Authentication library (GINA) and uses Window's security system to authenticate users, which results in a seamless integration with Windows. In addition, Unlock Administrator does not store or manage user's passwords; any password policy mandated by Windows is inherently respected.

For added security, both successful and unsuccessful unlocking attempts can be logged as Window's Events or written to a file leaving a detailed security trail. Unlock Administrator can also be configured to prevent non-administrative users from unlocking an administrator's session and it also allows the system administrator to specify exactly who can configure these settings.