Why does "quser" always say "none" for "IDLE TIME"?

I was told to use the "quser" command to determine how long the user has been idle, but it always says "none".

I set up a script to run it every 3 seconds, without me typing anything or moving the mouse. It never changes from "none". Even if I enter the lock screen and wait for many seconds, when I log back in, the script just has outputted "none" for every query for the "IDLE TIME" column.

"quser /?" outputs zero information, as usual, so the manual doesn't help me one bit. Not a word about what "idle time" means, nor what format it will be in. And it's always "none".

What?

Solution 1:

Microsoft describes query user as:

Displays information about user sessions on a Remote Desktop Session Host (rd Session Host) server.

Website SS64 describes Query User / QUSER more precisely as:

Display information about user sessions on a Terminal server or a Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server.

My conclusion is that this command only fully works for remote user sessions. When invoked in a local login session, it just gives a partial result.

Tested on : Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 & 2016, Windows 10 Enterprise. Result is always "none".