[Windows 10 Tip] Take Screenshot of Lock Screen Using PrtScn Key

Lock Screen was introduced in Windows 8 operating system and is still present in Windows 10 operating system. Lock Screen shows useful information such as date/time, network, battery status, etc along with a customizable background wallpaper.

Sometimes you may need to take a screenshot of Lock Screen for sharing purposes. For example, you are facing some issues at Lock Screen and want to share a screenshot of Lock Screen with experts to get help or you want to share screenshot of a suggestion/advertisement displayed on Lock Screen. Also if you are a blogger, you might need to take screenshots of Lock Screen to add them to your articles.

Windows 10 provides many ways to take screenshots such as Win+PrtScn hotkey, Win+Alt+PrtScn hotkey of Game Bar, Win+Shift+S hotkey, etc. Unfortunately none of these methods work on Lock Screen or Login Screen.

So what will you do to take screenshot of the Lock Screen? Some people use virtualization software such as Virtual Box, Hyper-V, etc to take screenshots of Lock Screen or Login Screen. Some people use their mobile phone camera to take photos of Lock Screen.

Did you know there is a built-in way to take screenshot of Lock Screen in Windows 10?

Today while installing Windows 10 in some of my machines, I accidentally discovered this trick. I was surprised to see that the good ol’ PrtScn key works at Lock Screen to copy the screenshot to clipboard. So once you are at Lock Screen, simply press PrtScn key on your keyboard. It’ll copy the screenshot to clipboard.

Now unlock your computer and launch image editing software such as MS Paint and paste the image. At last save the image and share it.

This method works in Windows 10 only. I checked in Windows 8/8.1 but it didn’t work.

PS: PrtScn key doesn’t work at Login Screen, so if you want to take screenshot of Login Screen, you can use the method given in following exclusive tutorial:

[Windows Tip] Replace “Ease of Access” Button with Other Programs on Login Screen