How2NotFail

If you have ever tried to take a screen shot of a video or movie playing in Winamp or Windows Media Player you may have found that after you save the file you are left with nothing more than a black square where your video used to be, even screen capturing utilities will often be unable to capture a screen shot from video playing on one of these media players. If you follow these simple steps according to the media player you prefer you’ll be able to save screen shots with Windows screen shot function or with third party programs just fine.

Windows Media Player

1. From the menu, go to Tools -> Options
2. Click the Performance tab
3. Slide the Video Acceleration setting as far as it goes to the left (None)
4. Hit OK to apply the settings
5. Take the screen shot you intended to take as you normally would
6. Slide the Video Acceleration option back to where it was

Winamp Media Player

1. From the menu, go to Options -> Preferences
2. Click on the Video menu
3. Un-check the box labeled “Allow hardware video overlay“
4. Hit OK to apply the settings
5. Restart Winamp
6. Take the screen shot you intended to take as you normally would
7. Check the “Allow hardware video overlay” box again to return it to normal