How to Lock or Unlock a Chromebook Screen

You can lock the Chromebook screen using the keyboard shortcut LAUNCHER + L. Launcher is your search key.

Last verified on ChromeOS 128, June 2026. The shortcut and lock-screen media controls described below are confirmed current as of this update.

In this article, I will show you a couple of different ways to lock the screen. Before we get started, if the Chromebook is locked by your administrator (school or work), you will need to contact them to get it unlocked.

Chromebook Lock Screen

Chrome OS lock screen is getting a lot of attention from Google these days. Recently the team added media controls to the lock screen.

Let me answer the most important question first. How do you lock your Chromebook screen?

You have a keyboard shortcut to lock the screen:

LAUNCHER + L

Using Touch Screen

The keyboard shortcut is useful when you have a keyboard attached but what about using a touch screen?

On a Chrome OS tablet (Example: Pixel Slate or the Lenovo Chromebook Duet) you could of course press the power button to lock the screen.

I am talking about doing it using only the screen.

Tap the system tray time and the battery icon is displayed. Now, touch the lock symbol.

Did that work? Let me know in the comments section.

Controlling Media From the Lock Screen

Since ChromeOS 2023+, you can view and control whatever’s playing — Spotify, YouTube Music, a podcast app — without unlocking your Chromebook. This is easy to miss because it only shows up once something is actively playing.

1. Start playing audio or video from any app or tab.
2. Lock your screen with LAUNCHER + L.
3. A media card appears on the lock screen showing the track or video title, with play/pause and skip controls.
4. Tap or click the controls directly on the lock screen — no need to enter your password first.

If you don’t see the media card, make sure something is actually playing first — the card only appears when there’s active media, and disappears a few seconds after playback stops.

Summary

You can lock your Chromebook’s screen using the keyboard shortcut SEARCH + L. You can also do this by tapping the lock icon in the notification area.

The latest version of Chrome OS also lets you view and control media playback from the Chromebook lock screen, as shown above.

Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments section.