Is there a way to map the "Print Screen" key to another key without a third party tool in Windows RT?

Question

I'm using a Surface RT, and there's no easy way to take a screenshot. The Print Screen key is excluded from the Surface's Touch Cover keyboard, so to take a screenshot, I have to plug in another keyboard. It's a little ridiculous. And of course, because it runs Windows RT I can't just write an AuotHotkey script that would fix the problem, since you can't use x86 applications.

Is there a way to change the Page Down key (or Page Up, either will work fine), to the Print Screen key via a registry hack or something? Those are the only two keys that I never use, so those are the only options for changing. I could probably live without the "Tilda" key, but sometimes I think I do need that one. Even better, it'd be great if I could have something like Shift+Page Down to trigger print screen, but that's getting in to a more complicated territory that I'm not sure the registry could handle.

Thanks.

Solution 1

You don't need an external keyboard, I think you're missing a trick here. Why not simply use the official recommended method?

Just press and hold the Windows hardware button and then press Volume Down (on the left side of the device).

This is analogous to pressing Win+PrtScr and will auto-save the screenshots in the Screenshots folder in the Pictures Library.

Solution 2

This isn't going to be a direct how-to. Since I don't have a surface RT to test with I can't be 100% sure it will work. Windows has a built in key mapping feature as part of the registry so if you can find the appropriate scan codes you should be golden since the surface has regedit in it.

This link shows how to use a regular windows pc to get the scan code from a typical keyboard

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/map-any-key-to-any-key-on-windows-xp-vista/

This link shows how to properly edit the registry.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-caps-lock-key-in-windows-vista/

If you're unsure or just really lazy, use a real windows pc to do the mapping then just export the single registry key to a file on a usb flash drive then import it on the surface.

Solution 3

If I'm not wrong Surface comes with Office 2013. You could simply use the Windows+S key-combo to open OneNote screen-clipping tool. Its the easiest way I've found to capture screen shots. This works universally.

You could also use the Snipping tool, but it works on Desktop view only - doesn't work on the Modern UI Apps.

Comments

[Moab]

If you feel geeky enough, it can be done in the registry, but not for the faint at heart.

[Lincoln Bergeson]

In order to do key mappings, its worth pointing out that you'll need the keyboard scan codes. You can find them on Google if you do a quick search for "scan code table". What you're looking for is something like this: ee.bgu.ac.il/~microlab/MicroLab/Labs/ScanCodes.htm

[JacobTheDev]

Thanks! I didn't know about that! That's perfect :)