How to Fix Snipping Tool Screen Recording Not Working on Windows
Snipping Tool video recording greyed out, not capturing, or recordings corrupted? Fix screen recording in Snipping Tool on Windows 11.
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Main Troubleshooting Guide
How to Fix Driver Issues →Complete symptoms, causes, and step-by-step solutions
Symptoms
You might be experiencing this problem if you notice:
- •Screen recording button greyed out in Snipping Tool
- •Recording starts but captures a black screen
- •Recording stops immediately after starting
- •Recorded video file is corrupted or 0 bytes
- •"Something went wrong" error when trying to record
- •Audio not captured in screen recording
Common Causes
- ⚠Snipping Tool not updated to version with recording support
- ⚠GPU driver not supporting hardware encoding
- ⚠Windows 10 — screen recording only available in Windows 11 22H2+
- ⚠Snipping Tool app corrupted or cache issue
- ⚠Insufficient GPU resources for encoding
- ⚠Privacy settings blocking screen capture
Solutions
Solution 1: Update Snipping Tool
- 1Screen recording requires Windows 11 version 22H2 or later
- 2Microsoft Store → Library → check for Snipping Tool update
- 3If no update available: Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates
- 4After updating: open Snipping Tool → should see camera/video icon
- 5On Windows 10: use Xbox Game Bar (Win+G) instead — Snipping Tool doesn't support video
Solution 2: Fix Black Screen Recording
- 1Update GPU driver — recording uses hardware video encoding
- 2NVIDIA: geforce.com, AMD: amd.com, Intel: intel.com
- 3Check if the app you're recording blocks capture (some DRM content does)
- 4Try recording the desktop instead of a specific app
- 5Settings → Privacy & security → Screen recording permissions
- 6Ensure Snipping Tool has permission
Solution 3: Reset Snipping Tool
- 1Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Snipping Tool
- 2Click Advanced options → Repair
- 3If that doesn't work: click Reset (clears app data)
- 4If still broken: PowerShell as Administrator:
- 5Get-AppxPackage *SnippingTool* | Reset-AppxPackage
- 6Or reinstall: Get-AppxPackage *SnippingTool* | Remove-AppxPackage
- 7Then reinstall from Microsoft Store
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