To enable or disable snipping tool in Windows operating systems you may either use Windows Group policy editor or Windows Registry editor as explained below.
Search gpedit.msc in windows search and select Run as Administrator then follow the below steps as soon as GP editor opens.
- Navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Tablet PC -> Accessories. With the Accessories selected, look for the policy setting named “Do not allow Snipping Tool to run“.
- This policy is not configured by default. Double-click to configure it.
- Select the Enabled radio button, and click Apply followed by OK. This will disable the Snipping Tool.
- The policy changes will take effect immediately.
- You will start to get the error dialog that says, “Windows cannot open this program because it has been prevented by a software restriction policy” if you attempt to open snipping tool.
- If you want to enable Snipping Tool, you just need to disable or do not configure the “Do not allow Snipping Tool to run” in same window.
Enable/ Disable Snipping Tool with Registry Editor
Type Regedit in windows search select Run as administrator as shown in snippet below.
- In the Registry Editor, navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\TabletPC.
- If the “TabletPC” key doesn’t exist, you need to create it. Right-click the “Microsoft” key, select New -> key, and then name the new key as “TabletPC”.
- Under the “TabletPC” key, look for the value named “DisableSnippingTool“, double-click it, and set its value data to 1.
- If the DisableSnippingTool value doesn’t exist under the TabletPC key, create it. Right-click on the blank space on the right-side panel, select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value and then name the new value as DisableSnippingTool.
- The Snipping Tool is disabled. From now on, when you try to open Snipping Tool, you will get the “Error” dialog.
- If the Snipping Tool still opening, you need to restart Computer for changes to take effect.
- If you want to enable the Snipping Tool, you just need to set the “DisableSnippingTool” value data to 0, or simply delete the “DisableSnippingTool” value then restart computer.