While it’s not a process that you will need to go through frequently, adjusting the settings of your monitor can definitely become necessary at times for a pleasurable viewing experience, whether it’s changing the color balance or making slight modifications to the brightness.
That being said, navigating the settings menu of your monitor may not always be the most straightforward process, as it’s not always possible for the manufacturer to provide the smoothest user experience with the limited number of buttons placed on a monitor.
Today, our topic will be an issue that you can come across as the owner of an AOC monitor, in particular, where you are greeted with a message that says “OSD Locked” when you attempt to bring up the settings menu of your monitor, practically making it impossible to access the menu until you resolve the problem.
So, how can you unlock the locked OSD of your AOC monitor?
To unlock the locked OSD of your AOC monitor and get rid of the “OSD Locked” message you’re setting on the screen, you will need to power your AOC monitor off by pressing the Power button, then power it back on by holding the Menu and the Power buttons at the same time.
In the upcoming sections, we will have a detailed guide that will take you through the process of unlocking the OSD of your AOC monitor, find out how to lock the OSD of an AOC monitor once it’s unlocked, and finally, discuss the purpose of locking the OSD of a monitor.
AOC Monitor OSD Locked – How to Fix It?
There is no denying that seeing the “OSD Locked” message on your monitor instead of the settings menu can quickly become annoying, especially if you need to make a quick adjustment to your monitor’s configuration before returning to your work.
Below, you can find our step-by-step guide for unlocking the OSD of your AOC monitor as quickly as possible, which will remove the “OSD Locked” message from the screen and allow you to access the settings menu.
Power Off Your AOC Monitor
The first step you will need to take to unlock the OSD of your AOC monitor is to power it off.
For this step, all you will need to do is to locate the Power button on your monitor and press it once, which should cause the screen to go off.
While the Power button should be located somewhere on the front in most cases, you might also find it at the bottom or the side of the monitor in some cases.
If you can’t power your AOC monitor off by pressing the power button, you can also unplug it from power for this step.
Press and Hold the Menu Button
The next step in the process of unlocking the OSD of your AOC monitor is to hold the menu button.
For this step, you will need to locate the Menu button instead, press it, and keep it held.
In most cases, the Menu button should be located right next to the Power button, or at the very least, in the same group of buttons.
Press and Release the Power Button
The final step in the process of resolving the “OSD Locked” issue is to power your monitor back on.
For this step, you will need to press the Power button once again, but without letting go of the Menu button until the monitor is fully powered on with the screen visible.
Once your monitor is powered on, you can release the Menu button and press it again, which should bring the OSD up instead of the “OSD Locked” message.
How to Lock the OSD of Your AOC Monitor Again?
As locking the OSD of your AOC monitor is as simple of a process as unlocking it, you can quickly bring the OSD back to its original locked state once you have performed the necessary changes to your monitor’s settings.
To lock the OSD of your AOC monitor again, all you will need to do is to follow the same steps that we have outlined in the previous section to unlock the OSD, as the process essentially acts as a way to toggle the lock state of the OSD between locked and unlocked.
While you can see a more detailed guide above, here is a quick step-by-step guide you can follow for locking the OSD of your AOC monitor:
- Press the Power button to power off your AOC monitor.
- Press the Menu button on your AOC monitor, and hold it.
- Press the Power button to power on your AOC monitor.
- Keep holding the Menu button until the monitor is fully powered on and active.
Once you conduct the process above, you should practically be seeing the same “OSD Locked” message that you have been trying to get rid of when you press the Menu button, which will confirm that you have locked the OSD successfully.
What’s the Purpose of OSD Locking a Monitor?
While an OSD lock may seem like nothing more than an inconvenience at first glance, especially considering that it has been preventing you from modifying your monitor’s settings, there is a reasonable explanation behind the existence of this feature.
The primary purpose of locking the OSD of a monitor is to prevent any accidental changes to the settings of the monitor from occurring, which essentially allows you to lock the configuration of your preference in until you would like to change it again explicitly.
This way, there is no chance of losing the configuration that you have carefully adjusted through the OSD, as the process of unlocking the OSD requires some very specific steps that you won’t be able to perform by complete accident.
Conclusion
While it’s definitely an inconvenience to stumble upon the “OSD Locked” message on your monitor’s screen after attempting to access the settings menu, unlocking the OSD and fixing this problem is a straightforward process that won’t take much of your time.
To summarize, you can quickly get rid of the “OSD Locked” message on your AOC monitor and reactivate the menu functionality by pressing the Power button to turn the monitor off, pressing and holding the Menu button, and then pressing the Power button again to turn the monitor on.
On the other hand, if you would like to lock the OSD again and prevent your monitor’s settings from being modified, you can follow the same steps that you have for unlocking the OSD, which will toggle the OSD lock state back to locked.
Mark’s first real encounter with tech was when he had to format his computer with Windows 98 around the age of 6 to quickly get back to playing Heroes of Might and Magic III without having to send the computer in for a repair, which he strangely found to be rather enjoyable since it was a new challenge for him at the time.
While he has always been particularly interested in the software side of things, which eventually led to him becoming a software developer, he enjoys keeping up with the advancements in consumer electronics and smart home technology when he’s not busy coding.