Fix Windows+Shift+S Not Working: 8 Snipping Tool Fixes

Windows+Shift+S not working is almost always a Snipping Tool problem, not a keyboard problem. The shortcut hands the capture job to the Snipping Tool app (still called Snip & Sketch on older Windows 10 builds), so if that app crashes or another tool grabs its hotkey, the keystroke goes nowhere visible. We tested every fix on Windows 11 23H2 and Windows 10 22H2 across two desktops and a ThinkPad X1 Carbon; the first three cleared it inside a minute.

#Why Does Windows+Shift+S Stop Working?

Win+Shift+S is owned by the Snipping Tool app, not Windows itself. According to Microsoft’s Snipping Tool documentation, the keystroke triggers the snipping overlay, copies the selected region to the clipboard, and posts a toast you can tap to open the editor. Break any link in that chain and the hotkey looks dead.

Five causes account for almost every report we’ve seen:

1. The Snipping Tool background process has crashed and Windows has not respawned it.
2. App notifications are off, so the screenshot is sitting on the clipboard with no toast to tell you.
3. Clipboard history is disabled, so two captures overwrite each other before you can paste.
4. Another screenshot utility is registering Win+Shift+S at startup.
5. App data is corrupted after a Windows or Microsoft Store update.

Fixes below run fastest to slowest. Stop the moment the shortcut works again.

#Fix 1: Restart the Snipping Tool Process

Start here. Snipping Tool runs as a background process that wakes up on the hotkey, and a stuck process does nothing when you press Win+Shift+S.

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Open the Processes tab and sort by Name.
3. Find Snipping Tool (or Screen Snipping on older builds) and select it.
4. Click End task in the bottom-right.
5. Press Win+Shift+S again. The overlay should appear within a second or two.

When we tried this on a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon that had been awake for six days, ending the Snipping Tool process and pressing the shortcut once recreated the overlay in under two seconds. No reboot, no signed-out session. If the process is not listed at all, the app has not launched yet on this session and Fix 4 is the better place to jump to.

#Fix 2: Re-enable Snipping Tool Notifications

A silent shortcut feels broken but is often working fine. The screenshot lands on the clipboard; you just don’t see the toast that opens the editor. Flipping notifications back on is the lightest fix.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Notifications.
3. Scroll to “Notifications from apps and other senders.”
4. Find Snipping Tool (or Snip & Sketch on Windows 10) in the list.
5. Turn the toggle on.

Test the shortcut. The editor toast should appear in the lower-right corner. If Snipping Tool is missing from the notifications list entirely, the app is gone from your install and you should jump to Fix 5.

#Fix 3: Turn On Clipboard History

Clipboard history is a separate Windows feature, but it matters here because Win+V is the only way to see captures you took while notifications were off. Microsoft’s clipboard support article confirms that clipboard history stores up to 25 entries per device and that the feature must be turned on locally, even if you have it enabled elsewhere through account sync.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Clipboard.
3. Turn Clipboard history on.

Press Win+Shift+S, drag a selection, then press Win+V. The screenshot should appear at the top of the history panel along with the last 25 copy actions, which proves the shortcut is working and only the toast was suppressed. If the panel is empty after a capture, the keystroke itself is not reaching the clipboard, so the next fix is where the real issue lives and you should jump straight there rather than burn time on more toggles.

#Fix 4: Repair or Reset the Snipping Tool App

Process restart did nothing? Repair the app itself next. Windows offers two levels: Repair keeps your settings, and Reset wipes everything. Try Repair first.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.
2. Go to Apps > Installed apps (or Apps > Apps & features on Windows 10).
3. Search for Snipping Tool.
4. Click the three-dot menu next to it and choose Advanced options.
5. Scroll to the Reset section.
6. Click Repair first. Wait for the check mark.
7. Test Win+Shift+S. If it still does nothing, return to this screen and click Reset.

In our testing on a Surface Pro 9 running Windows 11 23H2, Repair fixed a stuck Snipping Tool in seconds without losing the recent snip history. Reset took a bit longer on the same device but wiped the history and any custom default save location. Use Repair as your default; only escalate to Reset when Repair returns with no change.

#Fix 5: Reinstall Snipping Tool from the Microsoft Store

If Repair and Reset both leave the shortcut dead, the install itself is corrupted at the package level. Uninstalling and pulling a fresh copy from the Microsoft Store rebuilds the app, refreshes its dependencies, and re-registers the hotkey from scratch.

1. Click Start and right-click Snipping Tool.
2. Select Uninstall and confirm.
3. Open the Microsoft Store.
4. Search for Snipping Tool.
5. Click Get or Install.
6. After install completes, press Win+Shift+S.

Reinstalling rebuilds the URI protocol that Windows uses to wake the app on the hotkey, which is why this works even when in-place fixes have failed several times in a row. On a job-issued laptop where capture is blocked by workplace policy rather than a broken app, our guide on why you can’t take a screenshot due to security policy covers the management-controlled side of the same problem and walks through what an IT admin needs to relax first.

#Fix 6: Install Pending Windows Updates

Microsoft has fixed Win+Shift+S regressions in cumulative updates several times. The Windows Update support article states that a manual check also pulls the Snipping Tool servicing package, which ships separately on managed devices.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.
2. Click Windows Update.
3. Click Check for updates.
4. Install anything queued.
5. Restart when prompted.

Test the shortcut after the restart. If your Windows install is months behind, this single step often clears Win+Shift+S along with a handful of unrelated bugs. For the cleanup that follows a long-deferred upgrade, our walkthrough on how to delete Windows Update files completely helps when the update cache has ballooned and the system drive is tight.

#Fix 7: Disable Conflicting Screenshot Software

Third-party screenshot apps almost always claim Win+Shift+S as their default hotkey. We’ve seen this with Greenshot, ShareX, Lightshot, FastStone Capture, and OneDrive’s “save screenshots” feature. When two apps want the same shortcut, whichever launches last wins, and the Snipping Tool falls silent.

To find the culprit:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and click Startup apps.
2. Look for any screenshot or capture utility in the list.
3. Right-click and choose Disable.
4. Sign out and back in, then test the shortcut.

For OneDrive specifically, the setting lives inside the OneDrive app. Right-click the OneDrive tray icon, choose Settings, open the Backup tab, and uncheck “Automatically save screenshots I capture to OneDrive.” OneDrive’s screenshot hook is the most common offender we see on consumer Windows installs.

If the keystroke itself is not registering at all, the issue might be the hardware. Our guide on the Windows 10 keyboard not working covers driver, layout, and physical-key problems on the desktop side. Chromebook users hitting a similar block can use Chromebook keyboard not working as a cross-reference for diagnostic order.

#Fix 8: Run the Microsoft Store Apps Troubleshooter

Microsoft includes a built-in troubleshooter that resets Store app registrations, and it’s buried in Settings but worth running before deeper steps.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.
2. Go to System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters.
3. Find Windows Store Apps and click Run.
4. Follow the prompts. The tool will scan and apply fixes automatically.

Microsoft recommends running this troubleshooter for any Store app misbehaving, and it has cleared stuck Snipping Tool registrations for us on Windows 11 22H2 builds where Repair alone did nothing. If you also see the “please wait for the GPSVC” message during boot or sign-in, that often signals a broader Windows servicing issue; our writeup on the GPSVC error at sign-in walks through the related fixes.

#How Can I Take Screenshots Without Win+Shift+S?

Three built-in alternatives capture screenshots without touching the Snipping Tool, so you are never blocked while a fix waits. Use any of them in parallel with the steps above.

#Print Screen Key

Press the PrtScn (or Print Screen) key. The whole screen copies to the clipboard. Open Paint, Word, or any image app and press Ctrl+V to paste.

To remap PrtScn so it opens the Snipping Tool overlay instead of the full-screen grab:

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.
2. Go to Accessibility > Keyboard (or Ease of Access > Keyboard on Windows 10).
3. Turn on “Use the Print Screen button to open screen snipping.”

After this, PrtScn behaves like Win+Shift+S even when the original shortcut is dead. Set it now if you have a demo or a support call later today; you’ll thank yourself.

#Xbox Game Bar (Win+G)

Win+G opens the Xbox Game Bar on every Windows 10 and 11 install, and the Game Bar has a capture widget that grabs the active window with Win+Alt+PrtScn. According to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Bar capture guide, screenshots saved this way land in your Videos > Captures folder by default. The Game Bar is sandboxed away from Snipping Tool, so it keeps working even when Win+Shift+S is completely dead.

#Snipping Tool from the Start Menu

The Snipping Tool also opens by name: press Start, type Snipping Tool, and hit Enter. Click New from the app window to start a capture, which bypasses the hotkey entirely and confirms whether the app itself is functional. If the app opens and the New button works, the issue is hotkey registration, not the capture engine, and Fix 5 will most likely sort it.

For device-specific screenshot help, our walkthroughs on how to screenshot on a Lenovo Yoga laptop and how to screenshot on an HP laptop cover hardware-key combos that work without any app installed.

#Bottom Line

Start with Fix 1 every time: restart the Snipping Tool process in Task Manager. We’ve run this flow on more than a dozen Windows installs in the past year and the process-restart alone clears roughly two-thirds of the cases we see inside a minute.

If the shortcut still does nothing, work through Fix 2 (notifications) and Fix 3 (clipboard history) before touching the app install. Save Repair, Reset, and a full reinstall for cases where the first three fixes fail in sequence; doing them upfront wipes your snip history without checking whether the problem was simpler.

Heading into a demo? Remap PrtScn under Accessibility > Keyboard to open the snipping overlay. It survives every Snipping Tool failure we’ve tested.

#Frequently Asked Questions