Hi! I am a teacher and am constantly using screen captures to create documents for lessons, dittoes, etc. One of my colleagues has a Tablet PC and raves about the "Snipping Tool" on his Tablet PC that he uses all of the time. I know this tool now comes bundled with Windows Vista, but when I dida search for it, I only found downloads for those running Windiows XP for Tablet PC. Can someone who runs Windows XP download and use the snipping tool? If so, how? From the Experience Pack for Tablet PCs? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! S. Wong

It is a free download from Microsoft. The download page simply checks for Genuine Windows, not for specific operating system. tgc

Hi, Sinpping tool is included in Experience Pack which can be downloaded from <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=33790048-269B-4838-AB9E-74B64626A494&displaylang=en#Overview> Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC can work with Windows XP. However, please pay attention that there are some sepecial reqestments for Windows XP as below: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Windows Media Player 10 (required for Media Transfer) At least 50 MB of available free space on your hard disk More information: ============== Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tabletpc/experiencepack/overview.mspx I hope this helps. Best wishes --------------Morgan Che Microsoft Online Community Support

Hi, when I tried to install the experience pack I got a message saying that it can only be installed on a PC running XP Tablet PC Edition. Can you please tell me how I can install the snippingtool, or an alternative,on XP Professional? All the best, Andy.

That is correct based on my experience as well. The next best thing would be to do a "Print Screen" using the print screen button and then opening Paint and click Edit - Paste. You could also use the screen capture ability in Office OneNote.

Hi Again! I am STILL confused - one person said, YES! The Snipping Tool WILL work as long as the following conditions are met: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Windows Media Player 10 (required for Media Transfer) At least 50 MB of available free space on your hard dis However, another person was kind enough to reply, saying that did NOT work for them ... Does anyone know definitively? Will I "mess up" anything on my computer if I try? Or will it simply not work? More help, PLEASE! S. Wong

Hi, Please check the following link, which clearly indicates that Supported Operating Systems is Tablet PC. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 is an independent version of Windows XP, including all of the features and functionality of Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Service Pack 2. More information about Tablet PC: ============================= What is a Tablet PC? http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/evaluation/about.mspx More useful information: ======================= Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tabletpc/experiencepack/overview.mspx Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1B5BA4F3-C8E1-405F-BE61-8A48BA11CA41&displaylang=en I hope this helps. Best wishes --------------Morgan Che Microsoft Online Community Support

Dear S.Wong, I'm not surprised you're confused, given the quality of information coming from Microsoft online support. Snipping Tool does not work with Windows XP Professional - it only works with Windows XP Tablet PC (a different OS). There is no Microsoft download yet in existance that will install Snipping tool on a Windows XP Pro system. The best way to capture screenshots in XP Pro is to use Paint - press 'print screen' to copy your screen into the Windows clipboard, then paste it into Paint (alternatively pressing Alt and Print Screen together will copy the active window only). You can use the Paint selection tool (top right of the toolbar in Paint) to select the bit of the screen you want, then cut and paste that into a new Paint document. You have the option to save the Paint document as all manner of different file types for use in other applications. Hope this helps! Regards, Andy

Dear S.Wong, Check the video at the following link for a step-by-step guide to sceen capture in XP Pro (you will need Flash Player which is a free download from Adobe) http://video.about.com/graphicssoft/WinXPScreenshot-mov.--8z.htm# Regards, Andy

This is an interesting thread. Windows XP Tablet PC came out & XP Proffessional SP2 & subsequent service packs for it had release notes saying XP Pro was to haveall thefunctionality of XP Tablet version. The idea was that pretty much anything you could do on a Tablet you were supposed to be able to do in full blown XP Proffessional. That assumed you had the same peripherals delivering equivalent capability on an XP Pro PC. Bottom line for me & the person who started this thread wasthat wewanted the Win XP Tablet / Vista Snipping Tool in XP Pro. There are work around here butthey won't produce thesame efficient resultof the MS Snipping Tool. And the work around iscertainly slow. It's clear to me and perhaps people trying to "Take Notes", use Onenote or capture sreen content to bitmaps fordocumenting, that XP Pro looses to Tablet PC Edition and Onenote misses it's target audience. Furthermore I reiterate * Printscreen & Paintbrush are slow & produce different effects than the Snipping or Onenote clip tool. * Onenote has a snipping tool, but it wont snip itself!!! (that's what got me on the snipping tool hunt) * Onenote has limitations in pasting the clip board.. As no "Paste Special" functionality exists it lacks an abilty to migrate between Text & bitmap form * Vista has Pen tablet driver problems, and is cumbersone & inconsistent with normal Mouse or Digitizer inking. Try dragging a VIsta pen (in mouse mode)across the edge of a window & you'll see mouse movement with aPenlacks context sensitivity (this is confirmed with both HP & Panasonic Vista Tablets.) The above led me to stray away from exploring note taking & inking in Windows with Onenoteon Tablets &PC's, Though I do try again from time to time. I found the Tablet / Vista Snipping toolsearching for awork around to Onenotes weak clip & bitmap conversionlimitations, But sadlyI see XP Pro does not really have 'Ubiqitous Tablet Edition capability'in atoolas simple as a subscreen capture snip tool. Microsofts goal is Happy customers..If they want customers to work with and embrace up & comingtechnology concepts like Onenote or digital ink, customers should be able to use a single sourced screen snipping tool that works in XP Tablet, XP Pro &Vista and isquicker thana tool that stems from 1988. In summary ************************************************************ Print Screen Capture hales from the Windows 3era& is a mainstream tool today. One wouldthink MS wouldhaveimproved screen copy paste technology for the benefit & efficiency of Windows users. Not so in this case!! I hope MS will realize the original request of the customer in this thread is very valid. In readingit Itoo got misled to think the Snipping Tool would work in XP Professional based on prior Microsoft information. *************************************************************** Cam, A happpy but very frustrated Windows customer & user.

I stand to correct myself on Onenotes ability to snip (ie clip) parts of itself.. If the clipping tool is invoked via the Window + S keys then it can do it. If invoked with it's internal clip ICON, then Onenote minimizes itself during the operation. I still believe functionality like the snipping tool should be native oravailabletoVista & XP in all their forms though. "Print Screen" remains one of the major Keys, whose major feature of copyingdisplay screenstoa bitmaphas yet to be made user friendly. Regards, Cam Someone could write a book on Snipping, Clipping, Printscreen and so on. & All those hidden functions & word meanings in Copy Paste operations.

This reply is a little late - and I see people have said that you can't get the Snipping Tool for XP.However the Snipping Tool is based upon an XP utility called "Snippy" which you can get from here:http://www.bhelpuri.net/Snippy/It's a much more lightweight tool bit basically has all the important features for screen capture. I'd say the original was better! HTH

dqj_99, thanks for the link to the snippy application. That little app rocks!!!

I found this solution to work : Update (2009-07-12): Download links for isxunpack.exe and i6comp.exe added. Microsoft’s new Snipping Tool in Windows Vista and higher makes it easier to take screenshots of pictures than having to do Print Screen. There is a backport of this tools called Snipping Tool, but it will only install if it thinks you are running on a Tablet PC. It is part of the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC package which also features the Royale theme. However, it will only install on a tablet PC and on nothing else. Here is how to extract and run it on a regular PC. Requirements WinRAR i6comp.exe isxunpack.exe Instructions Download Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PCs. Attempt to run it and you should receive an error message about how it can only run on tablet PCs. Extract the .msi file from the installer by right clicking and selecting “Extract to InstallExperiencePack\“. Open a command line and navigate to the newly created directory and type in “msiexec /a Launcher.msi“. A window should pop up. Click next and specify a temporary directory. After files have been extracted, open the directory in Explorer and navigate to the “Microsoft\Experience Pack\Data” sub-directory. Rename SnipTool.dat to SnipTool.exe. Open a command line and navigate to the directory and copy isxunpack.exe into it. Run “isxunpack SnipTool.exe” in the command line. Browse to the new sub-directory “Disk1“. Open a command line and navigate to the new directory and copy i6comp.exe into it. Run “i6comp.exe e data1.cab” and ignore the errors. In the Disk1 directory, look at the file SnippingTool.exe and run the file. Note that the tool will not run on nLited Windows installs without IE/WMPIf you found this article helpful or useful, please help Compdigitec spread the word. Don’t forget to subscribe to Compdigitec Labs for more useful or interesting articles!

AWESOME! Works GREAT! Thanks!

I found this solution to work : Update (2009-07-12): Download links for isxunpack.exe and i6comp.exe added. Microsoft’s new Snipping Tool in Windows Vista and higher makes it easier to take screenshots of pictures than having to do Print Screen. There is a backport of this tools called Snipping Tool, but it will only install if it thinks you are running on a Tablet PC. It is part of the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC package which also features the Royale theme. However, it will only install on a tablet PC and on nothing else. Here is how to extract and run it on a regular PC. Requirements WinRAR i6comp.exe isxunpack.exe Instructions Download Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PCs. Attempt to run it and you should receive an error message about how it can only run on tablet PCs. Extract the .msi file from the installer by right clicking and selecting “Extract to InstallExperiencePack\“. Open a command line and navigate to the newly created directory and type in “msiexec /a Launcher.msi“. A window should pop up. Click next and specify a temporary directory. After files have been extracted, open the directory in Explorer and navigate to the “Microsoft\Experience Pack\Data” sub-directory. Rename SnipTool.dat to SnipTool.exe. Open a command line and navigate to the directory and copy isxunpack.exe into it. Run “isxunpack SnipTool.exe” in the command line. Browse to the new sub-directory “Disk1“. Open a command line and navigate to the new directory and copy i6comp.exe into it. Run “i6comp.exe e data1.cab” and ignore the errors. In the Disk1 directory, look at the file SnippingTool.exe and run the file. Note that the tool will not run on nLited Windows installs without IE/WMPIf you found this article helpful or useful, please help Compdigitec spread the word. Don’t forget to subscribe to Compdigitec Labs for more useful or interesting articles! Great, looking for a screen capture tool for our staff. We have Windows Vista OEM OS Licenses, downgraded to XP Professional. Is it legal to install this SnippingTool on these PCs? Come on, can an MS body please confirm????????

hi dapatoumba, i followed your instructions but at the end of the process while initiating the icomp.exe file, it says "could not load /init the much needed Zdata dll" could you please advise what could be the problem? cheers

hi dapatoumba, I have completed the Instructions till 11. But I am stuck at number 12. where you say "Run i6compexe e data1.cab and ignore the errors. When I run this command it shows me error saying that "Could not load/init the much needed ZData sll" Could you please advise? I appreciate the help Thanks

dapatoumba, This is an excellent contribution, but so far, I have been unable to get this to work. I received the following "unexpecatable" (:-o) error on step 9: ::::::::::::::::InstallShield Exe-files Unpacker:::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::o6.o4.2oo4:::::::::::::::::::from:Russia: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Usage: IsXunpack.exe 3DMark03.exe (for example) and use -i option for info of suppored modif. of IS-EXE Found Suggested Overlay Start Position at: 1C800h SnipTool.exe is Seems to be a Valid All-in-One Modif. of IS File ;) Unexpectable Error While Reading Next File Header.. File Corrupded? Extracted File: Disk1\data1.cab Size: 321541 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\data1.hdr Size: 13351 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\data2.cab Size: 3569754 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\engine32.cab Size: 470174 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\layout.bin Size: 473 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.exe Size: 118736 Version: 10.50.0.125 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.ibt Size: 376643 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.ini Size: 487 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.inx Size: 209357 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.isn Size: 250296 Version: 0.0.0.0 All Files are Successfully Unpacked! Your instructions did not suggest I should be getting an error, at this point. Nevertheless, I continued to step 13 where I encountered another unexpected twist: there is no file named SnippingTool.exe in this folder. However, I did find a setup.exe, there. But when I tried to run setup.exe, I still get the same error as in the original thread: You can only install this program on computers running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. Any suggestions what to try next? Is there any chance that Microsoft has revised their Experience Pack download for the purpose of defeating your workaround? Or should I try to resolve the unpack error I got on step 9?

Is there any way I can get i6comp and isxunpack? For some reason I cannot get to the site they are hosted on.Marty Lavender | Dell Inc. VCP | MCSA | MCSE | DCSE Dell Services High Complexity Microsoft Group Technical Support Analyst Enterprise Expert Center

hi dapatoumba, i followed your instructions but at the end of the process while initiating the icomp.exe file, it says "could not load /init the much needed Zdata dll" could you please advise what could be the problem? cheers A working (higher) version of i6comp can be found here: ftp://ftp.sac.sk/pub/sac/pack/i6comp02.zip And the isxunpack tool can be found here: http://www.legroom.net/scripts/download.php?file=uniextract161_noinst Using those made it work .......downloading from the original links got me files that were 0KB

I got stuck on Step #4 of the above process. Seems the command line still hangs the extraction of the msi file because it isn't on Tablet PC. I tried extracting directly to a folder location (i.e. msiexec /a Launcher.msi /qb TARGETDIR="C:\snip") but the installer still hangs when attempting this. Any suggestions on how to get around this? I've tried this on more than one machine, but same problem.

OK, so I got by step #4 (and then again step #12) to get the unpacked folder and the SnippingTool.exe app by running these steps on a Windows 7 machine (it basically times out and says you're not on Tablet PC if you try to do this on a WinXP machine) However, now when I run that I get the following: Microsoft Snipping Tool has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Then it says: The DDE server did not acknowledge the command, within the time allowed. Application=, Topic= Looking up these errors points towards some .NET 1.1 SP updates as a possible problem, but if anyone knows what the precise solution is, it might save a good deal of time. Thanks! I'm running XP Pro SP3 Wait ... SOLUTION!!! If you are running into the above errors, you can install the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Software Development Kit 1.7 . I tracked this down by going to C:\%temp% and then typing 'snippingtool.log'. The top of this log showed that it couldn't find 'Microsoft.Ink, Version=1.7.2600.2180...' Thanks for all the above posts and have fun snipping!

dapatoumba, This is an excellent contribution, but so far, I have been unable to get this to work. I received the following "unexpecatable" (:-o) error on step 9: ::::::::::::::::InstallShield Exe-files Unpacker:::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::o6.o4.2oo4:::::::::::::::::::from:Russia: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Usage: IsXunpack.exe 3DMark03.exe (for example) and use -i option for info of suppored modif. of IS-EXE Found Suggested Overlay Start Position at: 1C800h SnipTool.exe is Seems to be a Valid All-in-One Modif. of IS File ;) Unexpectable Error While Reading Next File Header.. File Corrupded? Extracted File: Disk1\data1.cab Size: 321541 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\data1.hdr Size: 13351 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\data2.cab Size: 3569754 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\engine32.cab Size: 470174 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\layout.bin Size: 473 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.exe Size: 118736 Version: 10.50.0.125 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.ibt Size: 376643 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.ini Size: 487 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.inx Size: 209357 Version: 0.0.0.0 Extracted File: Disk1\setup.isn Size: 250296 Version: 0.0.0.0 All Files are Successfully Unpacked! Your instructions did not suggest I should be getting an error, at this point. Nevertheless, I continued to step 13 where I encountered another unexpected twist: there is no file named SnippingTool.exe in this folder. However, I did find a setup.exe, there. But when I tried to run setup.exe, I still get the same error as in the original thread: You can only install this program on computers running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. Any suggestions what to try next? Is there any chance that Microsoft has revised their Experience Pack download for the purpose of defeating your workaround? Or should I try to resolve the unpack error I got on step 9? dapatoumba, did you solve the problem? I got stuck same location

why won't someone just upload the working exe file ?

Lol, I was wondering exactly the same thing.

I just want to say thank you so much to the following: dapatoumba for the initial guide, TheRedFedora for the better working versions of i6comp and isxunpack, and darin99721 for the ultimate fix to getting the program to actually run. Thank you guys. You guys made ____ real. For everyone else, I've packed up the extracted files into a ZIP with the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Software Development Kit 1.7 included just in case you have the "Microsoft Snipping Tool has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." error. There's a little text file also. DOWNLOAD IT HERE

HP has a free download called HP Smart Web Printing. It allows you to select a piece of a web page, clip it, edit it, and save as pdf. I use it for receipts, orders, etc. It's available for XP, Vista, & Windows 7 and works with IE 6, 7, & 8. Go to http://www.hp.com/global/us/en/consumer/digital_photography/free/software/smart-web-printing.html to get it.

I cannot execute msiexec /a launcher.msi, it complains about inconvinience because of running Windows XP SP3 Pro insted of Table PC. Is there anything can be done?

This works like a charm. Thanks a lot for putting it all together. I installed on two XP Pro SP3 computers and needed to install Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SDK 1.7 (included in your download).

For SysAdmin-E.com - I recently wiped [formatted my hard drive] Vista off my DELL... and went back to XP Pro. I really don't miss anything except that wonderful Vista Snipping Tool. I'd very much like to get it on my XP Pro SP3 desktop home computer. Well, everything I read above is in truth above what I can understand. There was quite a bit of back and forth confusion and me having to navigate a C:\ prompt is above my user ability. If you could, what was 'putting it all together' in order to get what was needed to install Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SDK 1.7. I'm looking for the layman version of [bottom line] how to get the 'Snipping Tool' on my XP Pro. Is there any way to get the Snipping Tool without the entire 'Experience Pack'?...I think not from everything above but wanted to ask anyway. Anyway, what 'This works like a charm.' did you do, exactly? Thank you.

I built an application called "windows xp snipping tool". you can find it at Microsoft Codeplex. here is the link http://xpsnipping.codeplex.com Features - works on most windows (dont know about 95/98) crop, resize, copy to clipboard, save. multi monitor support easy to use Free! with source code.

This makes no sense to me whatsoever! I have had and have been using the MS Snipping tool which came loaded on my Gateway laptop Windows XP for about 8 months now. I do NOT have Windows XP Tablet PC!! A few days ago I went to use the application, as I have a hundred times before, and it was gone. I searched my whole computer and can no longer find it. No, in my search of the internet to download it again, I am finding out it doesn't work on Windows XP?? Can someone please clear up this mystery and tell me how I can get my Snipping Tool back?? I miss it badly!!! Thanks, Carlene

hey Cam, i mentioned this in another reply... This makes no sense to me whatsoever! I have had and have been using the MS Snipping tool which came loaded on my Gateway laptop Windows XP for about 8 months now. I do NOT have Windows XP Tablet PC!! A few days ago I went to use the application, as I have a hundred times before, and it was gone. I searched my whole computer and can no longer find it. No, in my search of the internet to download it again, I am finding out it doesn't work on Windows XP??

tried this StratMan123 but found i could only do full 'screen' captures... ok, figured out how to use it, the cropping, etc. Thanks! This will work too! Its still a mystery to me why I had the original full MS Snipping Tool on my laptop using XP only and have been using it for 8 months without a hitch...then it suddenly disappeared on me... :o/ very weird...

Hi there. I came across this thread as I myself was looking to install the Snipping Tool for my XP Professional. After wading through 10 different sites or so I came across this website: http://www.bhelpuri.net/Snippy/ It's an .exe file you save to your desktop and open it up whenever you need the Snipping Tool. Granted, it's not as fancy or as nice as the Windows XP or 7 version but it still gets the job done! Hope this information is helpful. Ruth

Dear S. Wong, The snipping tool you want is called MWSnap v3. If you do a google for MWSnap you will find a website to download from. This tool ACTUALLY works better than the snippit tool that comes with Vista/Win7. I actually installed it on my Win 7 PC because it DOES work better.. Hope this helps, S. Buchanan