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I have recently purchased a new MacBook Air, with my optical drive equipped MacBooks, there is a Shift+Control+Eject key combination that allows you to lock your system by showing the Login Window for Fast User Switching.

With the new MacBook Air, the Eject key has been replaced with a Power key, so the Shift+Control+Eject combination is no longer possible.

Is there a new key combination available?

Michael Sepcot
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1 Answers1

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There isn't one that I'm aware of, but one could use this workaround:

  1. Open Automator, create a new Service.
  2. Set the dropdowns at the top to "Service receives 'no input' in 'any application'"
  3. Add the action "Run Shell Script"
  4. Paste this command (all one line) into the action: /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend
  5. Save the service. You can call it whatever you like.
  6. You can confirm that it's there by going to any application menu, going to services, and verifying that it shows up.
  7. Head over to System Preferences, and into the Keyboard pane.
  8. In the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tabs, select "Application Shortcuts" from the list on the left.
  9. A list of shortcuts should load on the right, with "All Applications" at the top. Highlight this, and click the plus (+) under the list.
  10. In the window that appears, make sure that "All Applications" is selected in the top dropdown.
  11. For "Menu Title", enter the name of the service you created exactly as it appears - including any punctuation, capitalization, etc.
  12. Assign any shortcut you like, then click "Add".

This will work even if the Fast User Switching menu extra isn't enabled.

Gauzy
  • 4,854
  • Alternatively, if using Alfred.app, you can just launch it and type "lock" and hit enter.

    I could not find a built-in shortcut on the new Air, so this is one option.

     – reaganing Aug 12 '11 at 00:05
  • I've switched to just using hot corners. Put display to sleep set to upper right. – Michael Sepcot Aug 13 '13 at 22:54