Vista mspaint-prt-scn Q

Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located invisibly in
System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix it. Do not show
hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

RH Breener wrote:
Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located
invisibly in System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix
it. Do not show hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

If I haven't mentioned it before, the same guy owns three web sites.

vistax64.com
sevenforums.com
eightforums.com

These contain tutorials and forums, and some good stuff
comes from both.

*******

I tried plugging in your search terms, and a reference here
popped up in the search engine. It suggests pressing the "Fn"
key on some laptops, when attempting to use PrintScreen.

http://www.vistax64.com/software/210...t-working.html

Also, the same thread mentions that alt-printscreen does a
different thing than just printscreen. And that one does
the whole screen, while the other one does the window in
focus.

Note that some windows, the Handle Identifiers are rather
confused. Attempts to snapshot the window, instead of
collecting the entire window in the capture, only
captures a tiny bit of the "trim". This can result
in some weird looking screen captures. The solution for
stupid stuff like that, is to issue the operation
that takes a snapshot of the full screen. Then trim off
the slush (Crop) in your image editor.

On some Windows OSes, there is a "SnippingTool". Don't
know if that advice applies to Vista or not.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/instal...windows-vista/

"Snipping Tool is available as a standard feature in
Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise,
Ultimate edition.

It should be installed by default by each supported
Vista edition installation as standard feature, and
can be found under Accessories folder. However, for
some reason, some Vista does not load this useful screen
shot feature, but you can always install or enable this
feature manually."

Your Vista should be patched up to SP2, before you
get too excited about your repair work. Vista becomes
a decent OS at the SP2 patchlevel, maybe more of a
pig in its original mint RTM condition. I hope you are
following some sort of patch strategy for it.

Paul

RH Breener wrote:

Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located invisibly in
System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix it. Do not show
hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

Users are sometimes engrained to pathing for executables to first look
in the current directory and then look in the USER or SYSTEM copies of
the PATH environment variable. For quite awhile, paths to executables
are also defined within the registry under an AppPath key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App Paths
Data name = executable filename
Data value (Path) = path to find the program's files

When installing, a program can register itself to add its installation
path or subfolders or to wherever it stores files that need to be found
without the user or shortcut having to specify the full path to the
file(s) or having to rely on the PATH environment variables. See:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...(v=vs.85).aspx

For MS Paint, look at the pbrush.exe registry key under the above
mentioned registry path. You cannot find the executable under the path
specified in that registry key? That's where MS Paint is found in my
installation of Windows 7. Wouldn't think they moved it in Windows 8.

Other than the archive bit, no file attributes are set on the
mspaint.exe file. Hidden, system, and read-only attributes are not
enabled on this file.

As to the clipboard, did you install any 3rd party software that usurps,
enhances, or works with the Windows clipboard (e.g., Clipmate,
Clipmagic, M8, etc)? Those tools sometimes lose communication
(interprocess communication) with the Windows clipboard. It sometime
happens to me with Clipmate. I have to use its "Tools - Re-establish
communications with clipboard" to fix the program's link to the
clipboard resource. Clipboard utilities can either use the Windows
clipboard API or interface via OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) long
ago renamed to ActiveX.

Did you install software that reassigned the PrintScrn key? To check,
have you rebooted into Windows' safe mode to eliminate loading of any
startup items that are running in the background and might change or
intercept the PrintScrn key. In Windows 7 (that I use at home), there
is the Snipping Tool. It is also in Windows 8. See:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...#1TC=windows-7
(use the down-chevron to pick another OS if their OS detect fails)

See if capturing a portion of the screen using it puts the snip in a
clip in the Windows Clipboard that you can then paste into MS Paint.
Make sure its option "Always copy snips to the Clipboard" is enabled.
If that works then the clipboard API is working in that program, the
clip got created, and MS Paint could paste in that clip and also means
you have something that is interferring with or intercepting the keyscan
code from the PrtScr key, wasn't installed to provide you with
"extended" keyscan support for your keyboard (sometimes needed for
laptops), you need to use a special key (e.g., Fn) to use the PrtScr
key, or your keyboard is broke for that key.

Is this on a laptop? Because the keyboard is smaller there is more
reuse of keys in the keyboard. Is the keyboard color coded to indicate
that you have to use a Control or Fn or both to use the PrintScrn key?
To use the print screen feature, maybe you have to hit Ctrl+[Fn+]PrtScr?
Similarly, for paste, maybe you have to hit Ctrl+[Fn+]V? You did not
identify the hardware (maker and model) of the computer and similarly
for the keyboard (if not a laptop) for anyone else to know what you are
using?

Maybe it's a keyboard issue. If you open Notepad, enter some text,
highlight it, and press Ctrl+C to copy into the clipboard, does Ctrl+V
work to paste in the text you just copied into the Windows clipboard?
If that works then maybe the PrtScr key on your keyboard is broken. If
you installed software with the keyboard, it could have remapping or
macro features that could redefine what the PrtScr keyscan will do.

Do you have any remote control software installed and running, like
TeamViewer. Some users found special keyscans were nulled or altered
when these type of programs were running (TeamViewer, LogMeIn, mikigo).

Most laptops come with bundleware from the computer maker that is
pre-installed, some of which can define or alter or intercept keyscan
codes from the keyboard. How did you perform the "system recovery"?
Was that using a recovery feature in Windows 8, or by pressing a hotkey
at the POST screen on boot or shortly thereafter but before the OS
starts loading? That is, was it a Win8 recovery or the laptop maker's
recovery? A Windows recovery will not include all the bloatware added
to a pre-built computer (desktop or laptop) with the OS pre-installed.
Some of that bloatware may be needed to process keystrokes on the
keyboard, especially for laptops. When removing all that bloatware, it
can take some research to see what happens in its absence or what you
might want to keep for necessary functioning of the hardware.

Does the PrintScrn work if you press (and hold) the Windows key and then
press the PrintScrn key? That is, does Win+PrtScr work? Under Windows
7, I see no difference in behavior of PrtScr and Win+PrtScr. However, I
read that Win+PrtScr does not copy the screen (to the Windows clipboard)
but instead saves the screen directly to a .png file under you My
Pictures folder. See:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...reenshots.aspx

which says:

the key combination Win + Print (or Print Screen)

So it looks like Microsoft changed the behavior of the PrtScr key (if
that is what they mean by "or Print Screen"). So see what Win+PrtScr
does on your computer (and add any special-function keys, like Fn, if
required on your unidentified hardware). If it creating .png files
under My Pictures then you'll use File - Open in MS Paint. They
probably figured the auto-save into .png file using Win+PrtScr was
faster and easier because before everyone had to open MS Paint to get
the clip out of the Windows clipboard and into a file.

If Win+PrtScr (and any special keys that may be needed in the key combo,
like Fn) behaves as described by creating .png files under My Pictures
then the keyboard is working. Unlike the above test, this key combo
saves directly to a .png file so it does not verify the clipboard API is
working.

"Paul" wrote in message
...
RH Breener wrote:
Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located invisibly
in System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix it. Do not
show hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

If I haven't mentioned it before, the same guy owns three web sites.

vistax64.com
sevenforums.com
eightforums.com

These contain tutorials and forums, and some good stuff
comes from both.

*******

I tried plugging in your search terms, and a reference here
popped up in the search engine. It suggests pressing the "Fn"
key on some laptops, when attempting to use PrintScreen.

http://www.vistax64.com/software/210...t-working.html

I bookmarked that site. Good info there. The Fn key worked. All the
updates are finished, over 110 plus SP2.

Also, the same thread mentions that alt-printscreen does a
different thing than just printscreen. And that one does
the whole screen, while the other one does the window in
focus.

Note that some windows, the Handle Identifiers are rather
confused. Attempts to snapshot the window, instead of
collecting the entire window in the capture, only
captures a tiny bit of the "trim". This can result
in some weird looking screen captures. The solution for
stupid stuff like that, is to issue the operation
that takes a snapshot of the full screen. Then trim off
the slush (Crop) in your image editor.

On some Windows OSes, there is a "SnippingTool". Don't
know if that advice applies to Vista or not.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/instal...windows-vista/

I use that also. Very handy tool. But at times PrtSc is the better choice.


"Snipping Tool is available as a standard feature in
Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise,
Ultimate edition.

It should be installed by default by each supported
Vista edition installation as standard feature, and
can be found under Accessories folder. However, for
some reason, some Vista does not load this useful screen
shot feature, but you can always install or enable this
feature manually."

Your Vista should be patched up to SP2, before you
get too excited about your repair work. Vista becomes
a decent OS at the SP2 patchlevel, maybe more of a
pig in its original mint RTM condition. I hope you are
following some sort of patch strategy for it.

Paul

I did - I downloaded 25 updates at a time. All went well - another 25, and
another.... then SP2. Only once it said updates failed to install
correctly. They had to be done again. That was the second 25. Since SP2,
it's working like new.

You guys are lifesavers.

"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
RH Breener wrote:

Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located invisibly
in
System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix it. Do not
show
hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

Users are sometimes engrained to pathing for executables to first look
in the current directory and then look in the USER or SYSTEM copies of
the PATH environment variable. For quite awhile, paths to executables
are also defined within the registry under an AppPath key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App Paths
Data name = executable filename
Data value (Path) = path to find the program's files

When installing, a program can register itself to add its installation
path or subfolders or to wherever it stores files that need to be found
without the user or shortcut having to specify the full path to the
file(s) or having to rely on the PATH environment variables. See:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...(v=vs.85).aspx

For MS Paint, look at the pbrush.exe registry key under the above
mentioned registry path. You cannot find the executable under the path
specified in that registry key? That's where MS Paint is found in my
installation of Windows 7. Wouldn't think they moved it in Windows 8.

This was a problem with the Vista 32-bit laptop after a System Recovery. Not
the new laptop with W8. Due to time restraints I had to set one laptop aside
and get one totally functional. The space is also limited where I can work
on them. AgentRansack found it in System32 - but it was "hidden". AR gives
the path to where the exe is located. But for some reason, MSpaint is not
visable there. It's working fine now using the Fn key.


Other than the archive bit, no file attributes are set on the
mspaint.exe file. Hidden, system, and read-only attributes are not
enabled on this file.


As to the clipboard, did you install any 3rd party software that usurps,
enhances, or works with the Windows clipboard (e.g., Clipmate,
Clipmagic, M8, etc)? Those tools sometimes lose communication
(interprocess communication) with the Windows clipboard. It sometime
happens to me with Clipmate. I have to use its "Tools - Re-establish
communications with clipboard" to fix the program's link to the
clipboard resource. Clipboard utilities can either use the Windows
clipboard API or interface via OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) long
ago renamed to ActiveX.

No... something changed when when I did the SysRecovery from D: drive. As
long as the Fn key does the job, it's OK.


Did you install software that reassigned the PrintScrn key? To check,
have you rebooted into Windows' safe mode to eliminate loading of any
startup items that are running in the background and might change or
intercept the PrintScrn key. In Windows 7 (that I use at home), there
is the Snipping Tool. It is also in Windows 8. See:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...#1TC=windows-7
(use the down-chevron to pick another OS if their OS detect fails)

See if capturing a portion of the screen using it puts the snip in a
clip in the Windows Clipboard that you can then paste into MS Paint.
Make sure its option "Always copy snips to the Clipboard" is enabled.
If that works then the clipboard API is working in that program, the
clip got created, and MS Paint could paste in that clip and also means
you have something that is interferring with or intercepting the keyscan
code from the PrtScr key, wasn't installed to provide you with
"extended" keyscan support for your keyboard (sometimes needed for
laptops), you need to use a special key (e.g., Fn) to use the PrtScr
key, or your keyboard is broke for that key.

Is this on a laptop? Because the keyboard is smaller there is more
reuse of keys in the keyboard. Is the keyboard color coded to indicate
that you have to use a Control or Fn or both to use the PrintScrn key?
To use the print screen feature, maybe you have to hit Ctrl+[Fn+]PrtScr?
Similarly, for paste, maybe you have to hit Ctrl+[Fn+]V? You did not
identify the hardware (maker and model) of the computer and similarly
for the keyboard (if not a laptop) for anyone else to know what you are
using?

Maybe it's a keyboard issue. If you open Notepad, enter some text,
highlight it, and press Ctrl+C to copy into the clipboard, does Ctrl+V
work to paste in the text you just copied into the Windows clipboard?
If that works then maybe the PrtScr key on your keyboard is broken. If
you installed software with the keyboard, it could have remapping or
macro features that could redefine what the PrtScr keyscan will do.

Do you have any remote control software installed and running, like
TeamViewer. Some users found special keyscans were nulled or altered
when these type of programs were running (TeamViewer, LogMeIn, mikigo).

Most laptops come with bundleware from the computer maker that is
pre-installed, some of which can define or alter or intercept keyscan
codes from the keyboard. How did you perform the "system recovery"?

I followed some info online and found the Recovery info on this old Gateway.
It gave me the choice to use a disk or D: drive. With no disk, I chose D:
drive. It went off without a hitch. It was loaded with crapola from
Gateway. Something changed the alt/prtSc after the Recovery but as I said,
the Fn key is doing the job.

Was that using a recovery feature in Windows 8, or by pressing a hotkey
at the POST screen on boot or shortly thereafter but before the OS
starts loading? That is, was it a Win8 recovery or the laptop maker's
recovery? A Windows recovery will not include all the bloatware added
to a pre-built computer (desktop or laptop) with the OS pre-installed.
Some of that bloatware may be needed to process keystrokes on the
keyboard, especially for laptops. When removing all that bloatware, it
can take some research to see what happens in its absence or what you
might want to keep for necessary functioning of the hardware.

Does the PrintScrn work if you press (and hold) the Windows key and then
press the PrintScrn key? That is, does Win+PrtScr work? Under Windows
7, I see no difference in behavior of PrtScr and Win+PrtScr. However, I
read that Win+PrtScr does not copy the screen (to the Windows clipboard)
but instead saves the screen directly to a .png file under you My
Pictures folder. See:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...reenshots.aspx

which says:

the key combination Win + Print (or Print Screen)

Another site bookmarked. Thanks.
This is the Vista LT. I'll let you know when I get back to setting up the
new HP LT with W8. No that combo doesn't work on Vista, I don't know about
W8.


So it looks like Microsoft changed the behavior of the PrtScr key (if
that is what they mean by "or Print Screen"). So see what Win+PrtScr
does on your computer (and add any special-function keys, like Fn, if
required on your unidentified hardware). If it creating .png files
under My Pictures then you'll use File - Open in MS Paint. They
probably figured the auto-save into .png file using Win+PrtScr was
faster and easier because before everyone had to open MS Paint to get
the clip out of the Windows clipboard and into a file.

On this old Vista it saves it as a .jpg file. But there are choices to save
it as the others, gif etc.

This info may be helpful if someone else has the problem on Vista and asks
here. The Vista group appears to be dead. There's a woman working here here
still using XP. She says it runs fine and wont be replaced till it crashes
and burns - or the company buys her a new one.


If Win+PrtScr (and any special keys that may be needed in the key combo,
like Fn) behaves as described by creating .png files under My Pictures
then the keyboard is working. Unlike the above test, this key combo
saves directly to a .png file so it does not verify the clipboard API is
working.

"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
RH Breener wrote:

Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located invisibly
in
System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix it. Do not
show
hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

Aioe: I had to snip as there were too many quoted lines.

It works. After the Recover I have to use the Fn key and the PrtScn keys.

On Sun, 29 Mar 2015 01:23:30 -0400, "RH Breener"
wrote:


"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
RH Breener wrote:

Google was no help... PrtScrn stopped working on Vista after a System
Recovery. MSPaint comes up but I nothing shows when I hit Paste. Only a
strange square made of these - - - - - - - - . WTF?

This is software I use frequently for work. Mspaint is located invisibly
in
System32 so I can't do what I did with WindowsMail to fix it. Do not
show
hidden files and folders is unchecked.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

Aioe: I had to snip as there were too many quoted lines.

It works. After the Recover I have to use the Fn key and the PrtScn keys.

Better yet, try the Snipping Tool.