Option "Never lock trader workstation" disappears automatically

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Hi,

thanks for creating and maintaining a tool that helps many and also me a lot 👍 ❤️

My setup is the following:
Windows 11, using ib_async with it's wrapper to IBC (see: ibccontroller.py.

Versions:

ib_insync: 2.1.0
IbcAlpha/IBC: 3.23.0
TWS:
Build 10.37.1o, Jan 5, 2026 4:05:28 PM 
Jolt Build 1.18.12, Sep 5, 2024 06:57:46 PM 
Nia Build 2.25.8, Jan 3, 2025 05:52:02 PM 
ModelNav Build 1.13.2, Jan 24, 2022 04:59:21 PM 
Riskfeed Build 2.48.1, May 7, 2025 11:18:31 AM  
Java Version: 17.0.10.0.101, 
OS: Windows 11 (amd64, 10.0), 
Memory: heap max 2048Mb, current 196Mb

TWS used in paper trading mode with a funded account.

So using ib_async, I call it's ibcontroller functionaliity which in turn starts IbcAlpha/IBC. If somehow the TWS is not available, the ibccontroller tries to (re)start the TWS via IBC accordingly. This in general works very good.

So my issue is, that from time to time I observe that my TWS is locked without any interaction from my side:

If I go to the settings page, somehow the setting "Never lock Trader Workstation" at the top of the page has disappeared:

At times, when everything is ok, this setting is visible and set:

The issue sometimes come in hand with entries in the logfile like:

Error 438, reqId -1: The application is now locked

My question is: could this (somehow) be affected by IbcAlpha/IBC itself?

Maybe my issue is affected by Interactive Brokers or an unsuitable TWS version... ?

Thanks in advance!

[rlktradewright]

This issue has been reported occasionally in the IBC User Group.

The thing is that IBC never - ever - changes what TWS/Gateway display on the screen. It doesn't do anything a user can't do. (Just for completeness, when IBC is running Gateway and processing a RESTART command, it displays a transparent overlay with a countdown over the Gateway window, but it doesn't interfere with what Gateway has displayed.)

So IBC itself can't make the Locking-related controls disappear. And I haven't found a way to make this happen via ordinary user actions. Also I've never had it happen to me, as far as I recall.

Therefore there's nothing I can do about this.

The only sensible suggestion is for you to raise a support ticket with IBKR and see if they have any suggestions as to the cause. They will probably want you to submit TWS logfiles when it happens, which is why I haven't raised the issue with them myself - it doesn't happen to me.