Snipping Tool, Windows’ default screen grabber, has been given a cosmetic makeover. Though the new user interface and extra features in the app improved the user experience, many Windows 11 users report that the Snipping Tool is not working or crashes often.
Even though Snipping Tool is not a crucial piece of Windows software and your system will continue to work correctly, a damaged app or feature might reduce your productivity if you use it on a regular system. This is because it might indicate a greater underlying problem that should be fixed as soon as feasible.
Since the issue is software-based, you may quickly diagnose and resolve it from your home. However, a problem like this might have various causes. As a system, you may need to perform numerous fixes listed in this guide to resolve the issue Snipping Tool not working in Windows 11 completely.
Snipping Tool Not Working In Windows 11? How To Fix
Reset Or Repair Snipping Tool
Resetting or fixing the Snipping Tool is one of the simplest and most practical methods to resolve problems with the app. Furthermore, this method requires the least amount of participation since Windows does the bulk of the work automatically.
1 – To proceed, go to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ title beneath the ‘Pinned apps’ section. Alternatively, put Settings into the menu to find it. You may also simultaneously open the app by pressing the Windows+I keys on your keyboard.
2 – To continue, click on the ‘Apps’ option on the left sidebar of the Settings window.
3 – To proceed, locate and click on the ‘Installed Apps’ title in the right section of the window.
4 – Next, you may either click on the ‘search bar’ at the top of the website and enter Snipping Tool into it to perform a search. Otherwise, manually scroll down the app list to locate the ‘Snipping Tool’ app.
5 – Once found, click the ‘ellipsis’ icon (three horizontal dots) on the far right edge of the title, followed by the ‘Advanced Options’ choice in the context menu to proceed.
6 – On the next screen, scroll down until you locate the ‘Reset’ section. Then, just underneath the section, click the ‘Repair’ button. When the repair is completed successfully, a ‘tick’ symbol will appear next to it.
7 – Now, open the Snipping Tool app on your Windows 11 PC; if it is still not working or crashes, return to the Settings window and click the ‘Reset’ option to reset the app completely. The app’s choices and prior data will also be removed.
Relaunch the app when reset to see whether the problem has been resolved.
Whitelist Snipping Tool
Focus Assist is an excellent method for managing alerts on your Windows 11 smartphone. However, in rare cases, it might create problems running certain apps, such as the Snipping Tool. Many users claim to have resolved the Snipping Tool issue by whitelisting the app for priority alerts.
1 – To proceed, go to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ title beneath the ‘Pinned apps’ section. Alternatively, put Settings into the menu to find it. You may also simultaneously open the app by pressing the Windows+I keys on your keyboard.
2 – Next, ensure that you have selected the ‘System’ option on the left sidebar of the Settings window.
3 – To proceed, locate and click on the ‘Notifications’ title on the right section of the window.
4 – To continue, locate and click on the ‘Set priority notifications’ title.
5 – On the next screen, navigate to the ‘Apps’ section and click the ‘Add app’ button on the far right edge of the title. This will launch an overlay window on your screen. Next, from the overlay window, scroll down to locate and click the ‘Snipping Tool’ app to add it to the list.
After that, exit the Settings app and launch the Snipping Tool app on your PC to see whether the problem remains.
Perform Clean Boot
If nothing else has worked, your next option is to clean and boot your PC, which will disable all services except Microsoft’s necessary services. You may next test if the Snipping Tool app runs normally and switch on third-party services one by one to see which software/services are causing the issue.
Note: Clean Boot doesn’t remove any data from your system. It simply disables all except the Microsoft necessary computer system functionality services. As a result, any third-party services interfering with the ‘Memory Integrity’ capability will be turned off, allowing you to turn it on without difficulty.
Booting your computer into a clean boot state is a simple process.
1 – Press the Windows+R keys together on your keyboard to bring the Run command tool. Then, on your keyboard, enter msconfig and screen Enter to bring up the system configuration window.
2 – Next, in the System Configuration window, make sure the ‘General’ option is selected. Then, click the radio box next to the ‘Selective startup’ option. After that, uncheck every other checked option and click on the checkbox next to the ‘Load system services’ option.
3 – Next, select the ‘Services’ tab in the window and then select the checkbox next to the ‘Hide all Microsoft services’ option in the bottom left corner of the window. Then, click the ‘Disable all’’ option to disable all services except Microsoft.
4 – Click the ‘Apply’ button to save the changes and the ‘OK’ button to close the window.
5 – Restart your system from the Start Menu to boot into a clean boot environment. After restarting, open the Snipping Tool app and verify it functions correctly. If it is, restart your computer normally and activate the services one by one to determine which service/software is causing the issue on your computer.
Force Enable Snipping Tool Using Registry Editor
Because Snipping Tool is included with Windows, it is usually activated by default. However, third-party software or services may often interact with these settings and disable the Snipping Tool on your PC. This may be resolved by forcing the app to be enabled using the Registry Editor, a simple procedure.
1 – Go to the Start Menu and type Registry into the search bar to find it. Next, click on the ‘Registry Editor’ title from the search results to open the app.
2 – You will now see a UAC (User Account Control) window on your screen. Enter the credentials for an admin account if you still need to be signed in. Otherwise, click the ‘yes’ button to continue.
3 – Now, in the ‘Registry Editor’ window, navigate to the address shown below, or copy and paste the address into the address bar at the top.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft4 – Right-click on the ‘Microsoft’ key on the left section of the window to reveal the context menu. Next, hover over the ‘New’ option to expand the section and click the ‘Key’ option from the list to create a new directory. Once created, give the key the name TabletPC.
5 – Now, select the newly formed key and, from the right section of the window, right-click on a space to reveal the context menu, and then hover over the ‘New’ option to expand the section. Then, click the ‘DWORD’ option to create a new DWORD file in the directory. Give the file the name DisableSnippingTool.
6 – To alter the attributes of the newly generated file, double-click on it. This will open a new window on your screen.
7 – From the newly created window, locate the ‘Value’ field and put 0 in the textbox just underneath it. Then, click the ‘OK’ option to save and close the window.
After that, restart your PC from the Start Menu, and launch the Snipping Tool app to see whether the problem has been resolved.
Uninstall And Reinstall Snipping Tool
Another excellent way to completely reinstall the app on your Windows PC is to uninstall and reinstall it. Again, the procedure requires little work from you.
1 – To uninstall the app, navigate to the Start Menu and select the ‘Settings’ option. You can use the Search option or the Windows+I keyboard shortcut to open the app.
2 – From the Settings window, click on the ‘App’ option on the left sidebar.
3 – To continue, locate and click on the ‘Installed apps’ from the right section of the window.
4 – On the following screen, either put Snipping Tool into the search box at the top of the page or manually scroll down the list of apps to find the app.
5 – When you’ve found it, click on the ellipsis icon (three horizontal dots) on the far right edge of the title to open the context menu. Then, click the ‘Uninstall’ option from the menu to continue. This will bring a new window to your screen.
6 – From the newly opened window, click the ‘Uninstall’ option to remove the app from your system. Once the app has been properly deleted, restart your Windows PC from the Start Menu to eliminate any leftover data.
7 – After restarting, navigate to the Start Menu and select the ‘Microsoft Store‘ icon to launch the app. Otherwise, put Microsoft Store into the Start Menu to find it.
8 – On the Store window, click the search box, type Snipping Tool, and then press Enter on your keyboard to search for it.
9 – Click the ‘Snip & Sketch’ title from the options grid to continue from the search results.
10 – On the following screen, click the ‘Get’ button in the upper right corner of the website to download and install the app on your smartphone. Once installed, open the Snipping Tool app on your PC by searching for it in the Start Menu to see whether the problem has been resolved.
Ensure Background App Permissions Are Enabled
Snipping Tool often gets background access to your system screen to snap screenshots. However, a bad update or a third-party software/service may tamper with this option and disable Snipping Tool access.
1 – To change the background permissions for Snipping Tool, open the Settings app from the Start menu or any other method.
2 – To proceed, click on the ‘Apps’ button on the window’s left sidebar.
3 – To proceed, locate and click on the ‘Installed apps’ title from the list in the right section of the window.
4 – After that, you can either put Snipping Tool into the search box or manually scroll down the list to find it.
5 – When you’ve found it, click on the ellipsis icon (three horizontal dots) on the far right edge of the title to open the context menu. Next, click the ‘Advanced options’ from the context menu to continue.
6 – On the following screen, scroll down to find the ‘App permissions’ section and ensure the toggle switch beneath the section is turned on. If it isn’t already, click the switch to bring it on.
7 – Next, navigate to the ‘Background apps permission’ section on the same page and select the ‘Let this app operate in the background’ drop-down menu to reveal the list of options. Then, under the menu, click to select the ‘Always’ option.
If this fix does not address your problem, go on to the next one.
Disable Automatic Time From Settings
According to the Microsoft Community discussion, some users could resolve the Snipping Tool issue by temporarily deactivating the automatic time update on their PC. Well, if it needs work, attempting this fix can help you.
1 – Well, open the Settings app from the Start menu, search bar, or Windows + I keyboard shortcut.
2 – Locate and click on the ‘Time & language’ button on the left sidebar of the Settings window.
3 – Locate the ‘Date & time’ title from the list on the right section of the window.
4 – On the following screen, find the ‘Set time automatically’ title and toggle the switch on the far right edge to the ‘Off’ position.
5 – After turning it off, locate the ‘Adjust the date and time manually’ title and click the ‘Change’ button on the far right edge of the title to set the date and time manually. This will bring a new overlay window to your screen.
6 – Now, choose any date before October 30th, 2020; however, you may leave the time as is. After you’ve chosen a date, click the ‘Change’ button at the bottom of the overlay window.
Now, open the Snipping Tool by searching for it in the Start Menu. Return to the ‘Date & time’ settings window and re-enable the automatic time by clicking on the toggle button you turned off earlier in this guide.
Access Snipping Tool From Older Version Of Windows
If you updated your Windows version on the same computer, Windows would have generated a folder containing copies of programs installed on the previous version for your use if you need them. The folder is located directly in your Windows Installer disk, so accessing the app from the directory should be simple.
1 – Double-click on the ‘This PC’ icon on your desktop to access the directory. Otherwise, press the Windows+E keys together on your keyboard to open the File Explorer window.
2 – From the File Explorer window, go to the below-mentioned directory or copy+paste the address below into the address bar at the top of the window and press Enter to continue.
Note: Remember to replace the username> placeholder in the address with your specific PC username.
C:\Windows.old\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsAppsThen, locate the ‘Snipping Tool’ file in the directory and double-click on it to launch the Snipping Tool on your PC. You may also pin the file to your taskbar by dragging and dropping the icon onto the taskbar.
Conclusion:
That’s all there is to it, guys! Hopefully, the fixes in this guide will fix the issue of the Snipping Tool not working or crashing on your Windows 11 PC.
