[BUG]: Snipping Tool still can be executable via its keyboard shortcut

[fideliochan]

Description

I deleted Snipping Tool via privacy.sexy to use Win+Shift+S shortcut for another application and restarted my pc, but yeah it still executes the Snipping tool it shows rectangle stuff.

OS

Windows 10 IOT LTSC 21

Reproduction steps

Just delete Snipping tool in Bloatware section and run win+shift+s does not matter if you reboot or not it still executes itself.

Scripts

@echo off
:: https://privacy.sexy — v0.13.1 — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 02:25:33 GMT
:: Ensure admin privileges
fltmc >nul 2>&1 || (
    echo Administrator privileges are required.
    PowerShell Start -Verb RunAs '%0' 2> nul || (
        echo Right-click on the script and select "Run as administrator".
        pause & exit 1
    )
    exit 0
)
:: Initialize environment
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion


:: ----------------------------------------------------------
:: ----------------Remove "Snipping Tool" app----------------
:: ----------------------------------------------------------
echo --- Remove "Snipping Tool" app
:: Uninstall 'Microsoft.ScreenSketch' Microsoft Store app.
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "Get-AppxPackage 'Microsoft.ScreenSketch' | Remove-AppxPackage"
:: Mark 'Microsoft.ScreenSketch' as deprovisioned to block reinstall during Windows updates.
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\Deprovisioned\Microsoft.ScreenSketch_8wekyb3d8bbwe" /f
:: ----------------------------------------------------------


:: Pause the script to view the final state
pause
:: Restore previous environment settings
endlocal
:: Exit the script successfully
exit /b 0

Screenshots

Additional information

[undergroundwires]

Hi, thanks for the report.

It works on older versions but snipping tool is not provided as separate store app but as part of MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core (Windows Feature Experience Pack) on modern versions of Windows.

I will not add functionality delete this package. It includes a lot of other useful things and would have big impact to delete it. I think we can add group policy to achieve this.

But we can disable it:

reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Keyboard" /v "PrintScreenKeyForSnippingEnabled" /t "REG_DWORD" /d "0" /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\TabletPC" /v "DisableSnippingTool" /t "REG_DWORD" /d "1" /f

Let me know if it works.

We can introduce this as new script: Disable Snipping Tool as this tool is historically known to have vulnerabilities 1 and disabling would reduce your attack surface.

[fideliochan]

Hi! Did not work but thanks for help.

[undergroundwires]

Restart your computer and please get back if it worked.

It did not work for me until reboot but works fine afterwards.

I see that this is what control panel option (Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard > Use the Print screen key to open screen capture) does too. It sets HKCU\Control Panel\Keyboard!PrintScreenKeyForSnippingEnabled to 0 (tested on Windows 11 Pro 23H2) and does something else to not require restart explorer.exe.

I see that users of other screenshot software posted related issues flameshot-org/flameshot#1551, greenshot/greenshot#482.

[fideliochan]

Sadly, no still does not work.

[undergroundwires]

Thank you for coming back. Try this:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v "DisabledHotkeys" /t "REG_SZ" /d "S" /f

After running this, try directly if it works, if it doesn't work, try restarting explorer:

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe & start explorer

If it doesn't work try system restart.

Check if it works, and feel free to let me know if restarting explorer or computer was needed.

[fideliochan]

Yes! After restarting it works now thanks!

[undergroundwires]

I will update the code in a patch release, did you need to restart the computer or was restarting explorer.exe enough?

[fideliochan]

@undergroundwires IIRC, restarting explorer.exe was enough.

[undergroundwires]

🎉 Released since 0.13.3.