I'm trying to take a screenshot but it doesn't work. Any ideas what I should do?

Question

I tried pressing the print scrn buton, i tried using it with alt + prtsc, i also tried using the windows button, the ctrl & even shift button but nothing works. i have a windows xp laptop.

Answer 1

I'd recommend you install a screen capture utility.  This will give you greater flexibility as to what you capture and where you save it.  There are a number of FREE utilities reviewed here http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-fre...

My personal favorite is bugshooting as it lets you easily add markups and comments to what you capture.  

Answer 2

Usually there is a "Fn" key that is color coded on your laptop. Try holding that and then pressing the "print scrn" button. This should work. After copying the screen to the computer's memory, then paste it into Microsoft Paint or a similar program. From there you can save the image in whatever format you deem necessary.

If this oddly does not work, try downloading the following program.

http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/

I found this program to be great as it automatically copies the screen, and then saves it as a image in whatever folder you choose.  

Answer 3

Print screen will not "Print" to your printer. It put the image of what on your screen into memory. It then can be "Pasted" into a image program such as MS Paint or Photoshop or GIMP using the "paste" command CTRL+V.

Answer 4

all the printscreen function does is copies a screenshot to your clipboard. If you use the prntscrn button, you have to paste the pic into microsoft word or paint after every one.

Gadwin Printscreen 4.3 is the best freeware that will save the Screenshot to a file instantly with no pop-ups or "Save As" dialouges.

Answer 5

What you want to use is Alt+PrntScrn

Whatever you want to take a screenshot of must be the active window.  So if you have several windows open, make sure you have clicked in the one you want a screenshot of.

It appears that nothing happens, but a picture of the active window is copied to the clipboard.

Then open Word, or Paint, or something that can take a paste, and paste.  A pic of your window will be inserted into your file.

Answer 6

when you press the prt screen button it saves the screenshot to your clipboard so you need to open up a photo-program like photo-shop or even paint will work.. create a new document and then paste the screenshot from the clipboard to your paint file.

Answer 7

Press "prnt scrn" and paste it into something like Paint.