How to capture screenshot using PrtSc Key without opening Snipping Tool?

Question

Hi,

I used to be able to press the PrtSc key and would automatically get a full-screen capture saved to clipboard. On other computers pressing PrtSc led to a sort of menu popping up, allowing for the capture of part or all of the screen. After making a selection, it would automatically save the image to the clipboard. No pop-ups or apps opening.

I'm now using a new laptop with the newest version of Windows 11 and am experiencing a very annoying behavior where pressing the PrtSc key takes a full-screen capture and then opens Snipping Tool which I have to use in order to save the screenshot to the clipboard. Very inefficient. Is there a way to configure the PrtSc key to capture the full screen, save the image to clipboard and then not trigger any pop ups or open Snipping Tool?

It seems this has been asked a bunch already but none of the solutions provided in other forums seem to work:

1. Disabling the Print Screen key to open the Snipping Tool:

(Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard > "use print screen key to open Snipping Tool")

I turned that off. The only effect that had is that while snipping tool still opens upon pressing the key, it no longer takes a screenshot.

Great ;( . Turning it back on has no effect; changing that setting somehow permanently screwed up Snipping Tool. Restarting doesn't help. This setting is misleading and seems to not work as it is supposed to.

2. Disabling Snipping Tool executable using services.msc

Press Windows Key + R Key->Type “services. msc”->hit Enter Key -> Search for Snipping tool.exe -> ...

The Snipping Tool executable doesn't appear in this menu. Comments in other forums suggest this is a common problem. There are other tutorials suggesting using some .msc to disable Snipping Tool .exe but none worked for me. It never appears in the menus.

3. What does work? Pressing Windows + Shift + s. This auto-captures screenshot and saves to clipboard. Unfortunately this also causes Snipping Tool to pop up, but that's not the end of the world I guess. I would greatly appreciate the option to screen capture in-background using the PrtSc key though.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hi Martin,

I'm Sumit, here to answer your query at the Microsoft Community.

I also recently bought a new computer, and I see the Prt Scn key copies the screenshot to the clipboard if the accessibility Setting is turned off.

Is your Prt Scn key bind to another key too, like a function key?

If so, pressing the Fn+Esc key once should turn off the Function key lock and see if it helps.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Hi Sumit,

Thanks for the reply, I hadn't tried this yet.

The behavior described above only happens when FnLock is deactivated. If I activate FnLock, the desired behavior is achieved (full screen is captchured and automatically saved to clipboard).

Appreciate the help!

Martin

Answer 3

And how does one do this on a desktop (the keyboard of which does not have an Fn key)?