C++ screenshot using DXGI DuplicateOutput of screen is missing Game Bar drawn areas

Laszlo Oberlander 5

It seems that the DXGI DuplicateOutput API fails to capture the Windows Game Bar drawn area. Similarly, none of the Game Bar widgets are included in captured screenshots.

Why is this happening? Isn't DuplicateOutput supposed to cover all visible area on a given display?

What method of screen capture is supposed to cover ALL monitors (display adapters)?

The DXGI Desktop Duplication example located at https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-classic-samples/tree/main/Samples/DXGIDesktopDuplication demonstrates the problem.

Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 11,496 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-03-13T02:10:29.44+00:00
What method of screen capture is supposed to cover ALL monitors (display adapters)?

Does your Windows Game Bar reside on different monitor from the captured monitor?

From the command-line, run desktopduplication.exe \output [all, #] where "all" duplicates the desktop to all outputs, and [#] specifies the number of outputs.

Have you tried this command?

The sample uses the default adapter. You may need other adapters? For more information, see DXGI overview.
Laszlo Oberlander 5 Reputation points

2024-03-13T16:29:18.43+00:00

For reproducing the described situation, there is only one adapter and one monitor in the system and the Windows Game Bar resides on the same monitor that has its content captured. It seems desktopduplication.exe captures everything (as expected) except the Windows Game Bar drawn areas and yes desktopduplication.exe /output all has been tried but it makes no difference in behavior.

So the questions still remain, why are the Windows Game Bar drawn areas excluded from the screen capture when using the DXGI Desktop Duplication example using the DuplicateOutput() API? What configuration is needed to have the Windows Game Bar drawn areas included in the DuplicateOutput() based capture?
Laszlo Oberlander 5 Reputation points

2024-03-13T16:56:59.48+00:00

Can you demonstrate that a DuplicateOutput() based solution can capture the Windows Game Bar?

1 answer

Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 11,496 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-03-14T05:25:16.51+00:00

Hello @Laszlo Oberlander,

If the issue has a big impact to you, you can open an incident at https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/support/?tabs=Contact-us so that our engineer can work with you closely and please choose the 'Graphics and Multimedia development - Direct2D, Direct3D, DirectWrite, DirectComposition APIs' for Windows SDK for this issue.

If you just want to report a problem generally, you can use Feedback hub APP to report with the category: Developer Platform->API Feedback.
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Laszlo Oberlander 5 Reputation points

2024-03-14T19:15:11.9833333+00:00

Thank you for your response. I do not have a Support Subscription, so I cannot submit an Incident. I provided a Feedback Hub App report.
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