How to Capture a Screenshot of the User Account Control Elevation Dialog

The User Account Control (UAC) elevation dialog is displayed in secure desktop, and hence the Print Screen button wouldn’t capture it. If you’re a technical writer who needs to capture the User Account Control dialog to add it to a documentation or help file, here are a couple of ways to do so.

Method 1: Disabling UAC Secure Desktop Security Policy

Note: As the Security Policy Editor is not available in Windows Vista Home Editions, you need to edit the registry or use the REG files below to disable the secure desktop elevation policy. See section Registry Fix below.

Local Security Policy

1. Click Start, type Secpol.msc

2. Expand Local Policies, and click Security Options

3. Double-click the following setting:

4. Set it to Disabled.

Start a program that requires UAC elevation. The elevation dialog should now appear on the interactive user’s desktop, and can be captured using the Print Screen key or using a third-party screen capture tool.

Registry Fix

The above setting is stored in the following registry location, in a DWORD value named PromptOnSecureDesktop

Download promptonsecuredesktop.zip, unzip the contents and run disable_secure_uac.reg. (A restart may be required after applying the REG file.) To restore the original setting (highly recommended), run the file enable_secure_uac.reg.

Important: After finishing your work (capturing the UAC Dialog), re-enable the User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation Policy. For more information, read article Understanding User Account Control (UAC) from Microsoft Technet.

Method 2: Using Remote Desktop

If you have another computer running Windows XP or Vista, you can use Remote Desktop Connection to login to your Windows Vista computer, and capture the UAC dialog shown in the host computer and save it.

Copyright © 2008 Ramesh Srinivasan. All rights reserved.

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