Fix: The screen does not dim when you take a screenshot using Win+PrintScreen in Windows 10

Since Windows 8, Windows has a nice screenshot feature. If you press Win + Print Screen keys together on the keyboard in Windows 10, your screen will be dimmed for half a second, and a new screenshot will be captured to the This PC\Pictures\Screenshots folder. This is a nice visual indication that the screenshot was taken. However, if the screen dimming stops, it leaves you with no indication that the screenshot was captured. Here is how you can fix it.

If the screen does not dim when you take a screenshot in Windows 10, this means that something is wrong with Windows animation settings. The screen dimming feature depends on Windows 10 animation settings. If you or some software disabled the appropriate option, your screen will not dim any more. You can enable it again. To do it, you need to perform these simple steps.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Easy of Access - Other options:
3. Make sure you have the option Play animations in Windows enabled:

If it is disabled, you will not get the screen dimming feature when you press Win + Print Screen keys.

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There is an alternative way you can use to achieve the same. You can enable window animations in Advanced System Properties. Do it as follows.

1. Press Win + R shortcut keys together on your keyboard. The Run dialog will appear on the screen.
   Tip: See the ultimate list of all Windows keyboard shortcuts with Win keys.
2. Type the following in the Run box:

   SystemPropertiesAdvanced

   Press Enter. This will open the Advanced System Properties window directly.

3. Click the Settings button under the Performance section. The Performance Options dialog will open.
4. Make sure that Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing option is enabled as shown above. If it is disabled, you will not get the screen dimming feature.

Avoid a bug in Windows 10

In Windows 10, at least in build 14352, I spotted the following bug.

1. Set your desktop to a solid color. Mine is black:
2. Go to Settings -> Ease of Access -> Other Settings and disable window animations:As expected, this will disable the screen dimming feature too.
3. Now, enable the option again:This will not enable the screen dimming feature again.

To fix the issue, you need to set your desktop background to some image first, then go to Settings, disable window animations and then enable them again.

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 also need to enable window animation in order to have the screen dimming feature.

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