Two things you will have to keep in mind: 1. Activate the rotation behaviour itself: gconftool-2 --set --type bool /system/systemui/tklock/auto_rotation true 2. Make sure you have the required image The new osso-systemui-tklock looks for /etc/hildon/theme/backgrounds/lockslider-portrait.png (for a portrait background image). If that specific file is not present, it will not switch to portrait.