How to Take a Screenshot of Windows 7 Logon Screen Using Ease Button
Have you ever tried of taking a screenshot of Windows 7 Logon Screen by pressing ‘Alt+PrtSc’ ? Well that doesn’t works obviously, as you move out of the windows explorer when you lock your computer. And at that time such functions won’t work and even if you print screen and log in to your computer and paste on any image editor then you’ll find the very last image which you have copied before gets pasted or even sometimes no paste option is available ! You can try yourself, PrintScreen + Ms Paint Combo = No Result.
So I’m going to introduce a small tweak which can capture your logon screen image by clicking the Ease of Access button! Remember ? The small button at your logon screen, just at the left-bottom corner ? Yes, you can take HQ Bitmap Screenshot’s using the ease button. Check out how.
Steps
1. By default the Ease of Access button launches the Ease of Access Center which includes Quick Access to Common tools i.e. Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard, High Contrast Setup and other tools.
Now we need to change this option with a small tweak called ‘Utilmax.exe‘ which will change the function of the Ease Button to save the screenshot of the current screen.
Download it from here 
Windows_7_Logon_Screen_Capture_Utilman (841)
2. After downloading, extract it to a new folder. Go to your windows location to the system 32 folder i.e. C:\Windows\System32\
3. Search for the file named as utilman.exe
4. Using Administrator permissions, change the file name to “utilman_backup.exe“
5. Now copy the downloaded file, utilman.exe to the folder C:\Windows\System32\ and close the window.
6. Press “Win+L” to lock your computer and then click on the Ease of Access button at the bottom left corner. Done ! A window will open asking you to save the Bitmap (.bmp) Image, save it and your screenshot is ready.
If you want to restore the original settings back, then simply delete the new utilman.exe from that folder location and rename the utilman_backup.exe file, back to utilman.exe ! Cheers.
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Kashish
Well thats a quite relief. We can do the same thing by using the ‘print system screen’ key which is located near the function keys on keyboard.
Abhisek Das
Hello Kashish,
Well allow me to let you know that function keys like Ctrl, Alt, PrintScr, Pause, Break . . all works within windows explorer. Once you log off or lock your computer they won’t work especially the PrntScr. You can try yourself by printing screen of the logon screen and then paste it in any image editor, you’ll find nothing or a screenshot of any previous screen or any text/image that you have copied earlier.
Ranju
Nice Post
Abhisek Das
Thank You Ranju for dropping by and liking it
Al
however, is not valid for W7x64
Abhisek Das
It ain’t valid ? I’m using Windows 7 x64 Version and it worked for me. How come it didn’t for you ? What error or problem you’re getting btw ?
Al
I have not tried it yet, but should not be there the file Utilman 32 bits for the SysWOW64 directory?
Al
Then, I tried it and it works very well on my W7x64
only one small problem that when you click on the accessibility icon an error dialog appears :
Path not available
C / Windows \ Sytem32 \ SystemProfile \ desktop refers to a location that is unavailable , verify that the disc is inserted correctly etc etc. ..
click ok to close window and it works anyway
Abhisek Das
See I told you it works! And don’t worry about that, it’s just an error showing that desktop shortcut isn’t present in that location. Simply Ignore it and take a screenshot of your Logon Screen
Michael Salvato
yeh ok, this doesnt work. It tells me the path doestn exist, and when i click ok and then save the file it seems to work fine. When I open the file, it displays the screenshot with the “path not found” popup overlaying my login screen.
Despite what you think this doesnt work. It’s trying to save the file to a path that simply just isnt available while the computer is locked.
Back to the drawing board, for you, kid.
Himanshu Rawat
Nice Article bro, but we can also use tuneup utilities for changing log in screens
Abhisek Das
Yes you can use TuneUp Utilities for changing the logon screens but it doesn’t allow you to take the complete screenshot of the same. You can only view the preview in the TuneUp styler!