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How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes

This wikiHow teaches you how to change how often the screensaver on your Mac cycles from image to image. You can do it using Terminal, which comes built into your Mac. Open Terminal. You can type 'Terminal' into Spotlight search to access...

Part 1 of 4:

Confirming your Settings in Terminal

  1. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 1
    Open Terminal. You can type "Terminal" into Spotlight search to access the program.
  2. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 2
    Verify your current settings. The default length of time is 3 seconds.
    1. Copy and paste the following into the Terminal window: 
      sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "print ':JustASlide:mainDuration'" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist
    2. Press ↵ Enter.
    3. If prompted for your password, type it in and press ↵ Enter. The keystrokes will not appear as you type it in.
    4. Unless you have changed this setting before, a number 3 will appear, confirming that the default setting is in place.
  3. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 3
    Click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen.
  4. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 4
    Click Restart.
  5. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 5
    Press and hold ⌘ Command+R immediately after restarting. Doing so will cause your Mac to boot in recovery.
Part 2 of 4:

Disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP)

  1. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 6
    Click Utilities. Once on the recovery screen, you can open Terminal and disable SIP.
  2. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 7
    Click Terminal.
  3. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 8
    Type in csrutil disable.
  4. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 9
    Press ↵ Enter.
  5. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 10
    Click on the Apple logo. It's at the top left of the menu bar.
  6. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 11
    Click Restart.
Part 3 of 4:

Changing the Screensaver Time Length

  1. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 12
    Open Terminal. You can type "Terminal" into Spotlight search to access the program.
  2. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 13
    Copy and paste the following code into the window: 
    sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':JustASlide:mainDuration' 10" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist
    1. You can replace the "10" in the code with any number of seconds you wish.
  3. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 14
    Press ↵ Enter.
    1. If prompted for your password, type it in and press ↵ Enter. The keystrokes will not appear as you type it in.
  4. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 15
    Type in the first code to confirm your changes.
    1. Type in: 
      sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "print ':JustASlide:mainDuration'" /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Slideshows.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Content/EffectDescriptions.plist
  5. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 16
    Press ↵ Enter.
    1. The number displayed should be the one you entered earlier.
Part 4 of 4:

Re-enabling System Integrity Protection (SIP)

  1. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 17
    Click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen.
  2. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 18
    Click Restart.
  3. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 19
    Press and hold ⌘ Command + R immediately after restarting. Doing so will cause your Mac to boot in recovery.
  4. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 20
    Click Utilities. Once on the recovery screen, you can open Terminal and disable SIP.
  5. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 21
    Click Terminal.
  6. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 22
    Type in csrutil enable.
  7. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 23
    Press ↵ Enter.
  8. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 24
    Click on the Apple logo. It's at the top left of the menu bar.
  9. How to Change How Often a Mac Screen Saver Changes Picture 25
    Click Restart. SIP will be re-enabled, and your screen saver adjustments will be made!
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