Grabbing a screenshot from Window Media Player is not as easy as it seems. Yesterday I tried to use the extremely useful screen capture by ‘Print Screen Key’ to try to capture a WMV running file on my Windows Media Player Classic V10.
Every time I tried to use the print screen, a blank image was captured from the Windows Media Player. Then I thought maybe the running video was creating a problem with capturing a frame. So I paused the movie and tried the print screen method. But I still got a blank screen.
Then I tried to capture paused and running movies in full screen using ALT+ENTER but again had no luck. So I decided to try some advanced options of Window Media Player but still had no luck.
I searched the internet whole day and found the solution for this problem. Here it goes.
Simple way to capture Images from Windows Media Player
1. Open Window Media Player
2. Then go to Tools > Options > Performance Tab > Advanced Button
3. Uncheck “Use Overlays”
4. Click Ok and you are ready.
Now run your movie in any size or screen resolution. Use the standard “Print Screen Key” Method as described and you have captured a snapshot from your favorite movie on windows media player without using any special multimedia software. Enjoy!
Another way to Capture Screenshots from Windows Media Player
As an alternative of the Print Screen Method, try pressing “CTRL+I”. This pops up a save as window after capturing the screenshot.
1. Open Window Media Player.
2. Go to Tools > Options > Performance Tab.
3. Reduce the “Video acceleration” from the default FULL to NONE.
4. Click OK and then close down media player.
5. Open the file you want to take a still using the Print Screen method
6. Press ALT and the “Print Screen Key” to copy an image from the movie to the clipboard.
Vikas Khera 