PrintScreen from Windows XP or Vista on a MAC
August 11, 2008 by Victor · 2 Comments
The new generation of Intel-powered Apple computers fully supports Windows XP and Vista through BootCamp. But, due to the fact that the MAC keyboard has less keys than that of its PC counterpart, the indispensable “Print Screen” function, which lets one take a screenshot of the screen, is no longer apparent to the average user.
In order to launch the “PrintScreen” function from a Mac running Windows XP or Windows Vista through BootCamp, including MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, or Mac Pro, you must first verify if the F1-F12 keys on your machine are controlling software or hardware features of the computer. To do this, you must first access the Keyboard tab of the “Boot Camp” icon in the Windows Control Panel and check if the “Use F1-F12 keys to control software” option is selected.
If the option is selected, then the following shortcuts must be used to perform the PrintScreen command in Windows:
Shift + F11 to capture the entire screen
Alt + Shift + F11 to take screenshot of the active window only
If the “Use F1-F12 keys to control software” option is unselected and the F1-F12 keys are used to control hardware features, then the following combination of keys is to be used to perform a printscreen:
Shift + fn + F11 to capture the entire screen
Alt + Shift + fn + F11 to capture a screenshot of the active window only
You have now emulated the PrintScreen key of a PC keyboard on your Mac!
