In Windows, there are several ways to capture a screenshot without using third party tools. You can either use Snipping Tool, or good old PrintScreen key. But PrintScreen has always been a silent event - there is no sound, no visual indication that the image was captured to the clipboard. This changed with Windows 8 and Windows 10: in these OSes, if you use the Win + PrintScreen keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot, it dims the screen. But what if there was a sound played? Well it turns out Microsoft coded a hidden feature. You can assign a sound to the PrintScreen screenshot! Let's see how it can be done.
If you are not familiar with the built-in ability of Windows 10 to capture screenshots, read the following article: How to take a screenshot in Windows: three ways without using third party tools. Everything in that article is applicable to Windows 10 too.
Now, we can do a simple Registry tweak so that a sound is played every time you take a screenshot using thePrintScreen or Alt + PrintScreen keys. Here's how.
To avoid manual Registry editing, you can download the following *.reg files:
Double click the file named "add screenshot sound.reg" and follow the instructions below.
- Press Win + R keys together on the keyboard. The Run dialog will appear.
Tip: see the ultimate list of all Windows keyboard shortcuts with Win keys. - Type the following in the Run box:
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL mmsys.cpl ,2
This open the good old "Sounds" dialog.
- You will see a new "SnapShot" event in the "Program events" list.
Assign the sound you want to this event using the "Browse" button. You can use the included file "shot.wav" file which I extracted from my smartphone.
- Now press PrintScreen or Alt + PrintScreen to hear the camera shot sound!
We tested this registry tweak and found out that it works in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. If you are running any of those operating systems, you can enjoy the PrintScreen sound. If you are curious what this tweak does or prefer to do everything yourself, here is the content of the reg file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\SnapShot] @=""
The undo file is included in the ZIP archive you downloaded.
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The link “the ultimate list of all Windows keyboard shortcuts with Win keys” isn’t working.
works here.
which error you are getting in the browser?
Google Chrome:
ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED
Internet Explorer:
This page can’t be displayed
I’m running Windows 8.1 x64. Google Chrome 47.0.2526.111 m (64-bit)
I can;t reproduce it.
Works fine everywhere here.
I suppose it is a problem concerning the language code. On page is the only link which appears% 20%, as follows:
https://winaero.com/blog/add-sound-to-printscreen-screenshot-in-windows-10-windows-8-windows-7-and-vista/How%20to%20take%20a%20screenshot%20in%20Windows%208.1:%20three%20ways%20without%20using%20third%20party%20tools
OK, I’ll try to find the article on the site and see if it opens without using the link.
Thanks for your attention.
I wonder why you even have such link?
In the text, it looks as follows:
https://winaero.com/blog/add-sound-to-printscreen-screenshot-in-windows-10-windows-8-windows-7-and-vista/But in your browser, it adds the article title to the link.
It should not be that way.
Amazing find!
yep, really interesting.
It doesn’t work with WIN+PrintScreen, sadly.
Yep. I also tested it, it does not work with this feature.
Just use the print screen button alone without the flag key on Windows 10 to play a sound and save the pic to OneDrive.
Can you add this to winaero tweaker with a nice camera sound?
It’s only playing sound with alt+print screen key.. it’s not able to take screen shot. When I press window+printscreen then only it take screenshots…plz help
I don’t have the SNAPSHOT
I don’t have the SNAPSHOT option under HKEY… or in sound preferences. My computer used to make a camera sound and briefly dim the screen when taking a screenshot but just stopped doing it one day (probably after a windows update).