What can I do if the print screen key does not work?

  • Windows 10 and 11 offer multiple methods for taking screenshots.
  • The Print Screen key may experience issues on compact keyboards or due to technical glitches.
  • Alternatives like Xbox Game Bar and Snipping Tool allow for efficient captures without the Print Screen key.
  • Third-party apps, such as ShareX, offer advanced features and are free.

Print Pant

Windows 10, like Windows 11, puts at our disposal up to 5 different methods to take screenshots. One of the most comfortable methods and one that offers us greater versatility is the combination of pressing the key Windows + Print Screen

However What if the print key doesn't work? Absolutely nothing happens, since we can use the rest of the methods available in Windows to continue taking screenshots.

Why doesn't the print screen key work?

print screen button

If you have a small keyboard

If you have a compact keyboard, you should know that some of the functions that we usually find in a full keyboard are available in other keys via the Fn key.

Only when we press this key, we will be able to access the additional function that include other keys, being the print screen one of them. If your keyboard is not complete, please make sure to press the Fn key first.

The key has stopped working

This key is one of those less are used in a computer, since it has a very specific function that very few users use. And, no matter how much you use it, it is very unlikely that this key will stop working overnight.

The only method to check if the key works correctly is by using a compact keyboard, since the function of this key is associated with previously pressing the Fn button.

Restart the computer

If after trying the two solutions that I show you above, the key does not work, the first solution that we must try is restart our computer.

When we restart our computer, all the programs and drivers that may be running in the background in memory, are removed and all the keys on our keyboard should work as before.

Check if there is a new update for your keyboard

Whether you use a mechanical keyboard (which includes a program to manage the operation of some keys among other things) or not, if after restarting our computer, checking how the print screen key still does not work, the last solution we can try is update the drivers used by Windows.

To update our keyboard drivers and check if Microsoft has released a new version, we must perform the steps shown below:

Update Keyboard Drivers

  • We go to the Windows search box and write Control panel and click on the first result.
  • Next, click on Hardware and sound and then in Device Manager inside Devices and printers.
  • Next, we press 2 times on Keyboards to show all the keyboards that we have installed.
  • With the right button, on the name of the keyboard, click on Update Driver.

If after trying all the solutions that we have mentioned above, the print screen key still does not work, there is no problem.

We can make use of the other methods that Windows makes available to us.

How to take screenshots without the print screen button

Xbox game bar

Although the print screen button does not work on our keyboard, we can continue to make use of its functionality through the Xbox Game Bar to take a screenshot of the currently active screen.

The Xbox Game Bar is the tool that Microsoft makes available to users who play regularly, to take screenshots.

Through this application, we can continue to take advantage of the functionality of the print screen key. To do so, we must Follow the steps that I show you below.

screenshot with xbox game bar

  • The first thing we must do is access the Xbox Game Bar by pressing the keys Windows + G
  • Next, in the upper right part of the screen, we find the camera icon.
  • By clicking on it, the computer will make a screenshot of the application that is in the foreground at that moment.

Once we have made the capture, this will be displayed in the central part of the application and a floating message will be displayed on the right side of the screen.

We can then copy the image to the clipboard to paste it into any document. We can also access the generated file to edit or share it, by clicking on Open file location. The location where it is stored is in the directory Videos – Captures.

From that same window, we can also delete it or share it through social networks that we have previously configured in the application.

Snipping Tools

Snipping Tool in Windows 11

Regardless of what version of Windows you are using, in both versions we find the Cut Tools application, an app that has a different interface in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Related article:
How to make screenshots in Windows 11

However, the functionalities that they offer us they are the same, even if the name changes

Snipping Tool Windows 10

Snipping Tool in Windows 10

This tool allows us to 4 different capture types:

Rectangle mode

This mode allows us to take a screenshot by making a rectangle on the screen.

Window mode

The window mode takes care of making a window screenshot that we select once we press in this mode.

Full screen mode

As its name describes, the full screen mode of the Snipping Tool application allows us to make a cfull screen capture.

free form mode

freeform mode screenshot

The free form mode (in Windows 10 it is called free form), allows us to select the objects with the mouse that we want to save as capture.

Win + Shift + S

screenshot Windows 11

Another option with which we can take screenshots without relying on the print screen key, is found in the keyboard shortcut key Windows + Shift + s.

By pressing this combination of keys, available in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, we can do thethe same types of screenshot than with the Snipping app.

  • Rectangular cutout
  • Freeform clipping
  • Window cutout
  • Full screen cropping

Third-party applications

shareX

If none of the alternatives that Windows puts at our disposal to take screenshots without physically using the print screen boot, we can opt for one of the most complete applications to carry out this task.

I am talking about the ShareX app. This application of open source and completely free, allows us:

  • Take full screenshot
  • Take a screenshot of a monitor
  • Capture an active window
  • Capture rectangular, freeform…
  • Record your screen (a feature we also have available through the Xbox Game Bar)
  • Gather the screenshots
  • Recognize text from screenshots
  • Show cursor on screenshots
  • Set a delay when capturing

ShareX is available for download through its website.


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