Windows 10 Screenshot Black - Multiple Tools (Standard, Greenshot, Snipping Tool)

Question

I'm having an unusual issue - any way I attempt to print screen all I get is a black screen (using the WIN+PrtSc) a live black screen using Greenshot (as in I can move the cursor, see the dimension per usual, but everything is black) or snipping tool (complete capture I get total black, area capture goes all gray, then the section I choose is black).

Any ideas as to what may be causing this? I am running Stardock WindowBlinds; but I switched out to a standard Windows theme and the problem persisted. I am not running any security software other than MS that would block a screennshot, and, as a test, I tried to record my desktop with YouCam (which worked just fine).

Any insight much appreciated. 64-Bit Windows 10, GTX1070, i7-7820. If you need any other information on my system I'm happy to supply it!

Solution

You can do the following steps to solve your problem:

1. Right click on [Start] in the lower left corner of the system desktop and click [Run] in the start menu.
2. Enter the “regedit” command in the open dialog box and click [OK] or [Enter];
3. After clicking OK or Enter, a dialog box for user account control may pop up. Click [OK] or [Yes] to open the Registry Editor.
4. In the open Registry Editor window, expand in order: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->SYSTEM->CurrentControlSet->Control-> GraphicsDrivers
5. Find the DCI in the expansion item of GraphicsDrivers and left click on DCI;
6. In the right window corresponding to the DCI, double-click: Timeout. In the “Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value” window that opens, we change the value data of Timeout from "7" to "0" and click: OK ;
7. Back to the Registry Editor window and you can see: Timeout REG_DWORD 0x00000000(0). Then click [File] in the upper left corner of the window, click [Exit] in the drop-down menu to exit the Registry Editor.

Generally, the black screen is mainly caused by the failure of the graphics card or the display. Since the screen is not black after exiting the screen shot, the more likely cause is the graphics card problem. You can also refer to the following solutions:

1. Upgrade the computer hardware, such as adding a memory stick, changing a high-quality graphics card, or changing a solid-state hard drive. It may be because the hardware configuration is too low, resulting in a black screen caused by excessive resources when the screenshot is taken.
2. When the system resources are insufficient, the screenshot will occasionally encounter a black screen. In this case, you can end the process that is not used in the background to save system resources.

Comments

[Alex]

Check in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System->Device Manager in section Display adapters if there some virtual devices like mv video hook or mirror driver and try to disable it for the test purpose

[Run5k]

First of all, welcome to Super User! Just out of curiosity, how long has it been since this problem started? Did it coincide with any significant system changes (OS updates, software installs, etc.)?

[barabaskid]

I thought it might have coincided with installing WindowBlinds, but it was a graphics driver issue. Strange, but there it is!

[barabaskid]

Thank You! That fixed the problem perfectly. I checked the GPU and it's in good - it looks like the latest driver set from NVIDIA somehow caused the issue, so a rollback also fixed the problem, but I think your solution is a longer lasting approach. I also appreciate the additional information, very informative!

[The Beast]

In my case the tool I'm trying to capture is preventing the screenshot from appearing ? It also shows black screen when recording the screen ! is there any solution ?