All screenshot applications work perfectly but just on the desktop, so once you log out you can’t use them. For whatever reason you’d like to take a screenshot of the lock or login screen in Windows 10, know that it’s actually possible.
Grabbing a screen capture while on the lock screen is quite easy, doing the same on the login screen being more tricky but still doable. Keep reading to find out how.
How to take a screenshot of the lock or login screen in Windows 10
We’ll start with the lock screen first since this one is the simplest method of the two.
Take a screenshot of the lock screen in Windows 10
First, go to your lock screen. The quickest way to do it is by pressing Win+L. With the lock screen displayed, just press the PrtScr (Print Screen) key on your keyboard. This will copy the image of your lock screen to the clipboard.
Now, return to the desktop and open an image editing application – Paint is just fine, by the way. Paste the screenshot into the app and save it to the location of your choice.
Take a screenshot of the login screen in Windows 10
Sadly, taking a screenshot of the login screen is not quite as easy as it is for the lock screen. Nevertheless, it can be done with a simple registry tweak to add the Snipping Tool as the Ease of Access button. Once you do this, you will always be able to take a screenshot of the login screen, so it’s worth the effort.
Right-click on the Start button, select Run and type ‘regedit’ then hit the OK button to open the Registry Editor.
Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
Right click on the name of the folder (Image File Execution Options) and create a new key named utilman.exe
In the newly created key, add a new string value and name it Debugger.
Set the string’s value to the path of the snipping tool (just copy and paste it from below)
C:\Windows\System32\SnippingTool.exe
Now you can go to the Login Screen and click on the Ease of Access button (in the bottom right corner of the screen). This will open the Snipping Tool. Then you can take the screenshot of the login screen and use the Copy option to save it to the clipboard.
Return to your desktop and open Paint or another image editor and paste the screenshot, then save it to the location of your choice. That’s it!
