Red Hat Knowledgebase

First, log in as a user (other than root) and use xscreensaver to set the appropriate screensaver and screen lock settings that you wish to be applied to all users. When you configure these settings, a file is created in this user's home directory called .xscreensaver. Now log in as root and copy this file to the directory /etc/skel. Change the ownership of this file to root by executing:

# chown root:root /etc/skel/.xscreensaver

Now, every new user that is created will have this file in their home directory, so they will inherit these settings automatically. For existing users, copy this file to their home directory and then execute:

# chown username:username ~username/.xscreensaver

This will set the correct permissions on the file so that these settings will take effect. Please note that this will overwrite any screensaver customizations the existing user has made.