Screen Capture (by Google) Chrome extension on Windows 8

I upgraded to Windows 8 on the day it was released cause that’s how I roll, however, one thing that’s really been bugging me is that I couldn’t install the Screen Capture Google Chrome extension. I’d googled it back then and there wasn’t a solution for this problem.

Most people wouldn’t be too worried about not being able to install this extension but when you spend your days and nights coding up WordPress websites for clients you tend to spend a crazy amount of time taking screenshots of all kinds of things. Ever since I upgraded Windows I was back into the habit of doing a Print Screen and a paste into Photoshop…which does mean that if you have to capture a whole page from top to bottom then you have to stitch together a series of Print Screens…and ain’t nobody got time for that!

Tonight I’d had enough of it and needed to get that extension working again!

For the geeks like myself who don’t need a step by step solution, the TLDR version is: Run Chrome in Windows 7 compatibility mode, install the extension and turn off Win 7 compatibility afterwards.

I have a feeling that I’ll end up with non geeks finding this post via Google so here’s the step by step version:

I did the following:

  1. Closed all instances of Google Chrome that I had open (read: close Chrome).
  2. Navigated to C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe
  3. Right clicked on chrome.exe and selected Properties.
  4. Clicked on the Compatibility tab.
  5. Changed the Compatibility mode to Windows 7 and clicked Apply.
  6. Opened Chrome and went to Screen Capture and installed the extension.
  7. Closed Chrome and changed unticked the Compatibility mode so I was back to Windows 8 mode.
  8. I opened Chrome and Screen Capture was still installed and functions as expected.
  9. Needless to say I was super pleased and I jizzed in my pants!

Bronson Quick
8
  1. Vicky

    Wonderful! I was missing my Screen Capture– thanks for helping me get it back so quickly!

    Reply
  2. Ada Nihan

    Thank you so much! Very useful tip, and very clearly written.

    Reply
  3. Adrián Pauly

    Thank you! I rely heavily on this extension and was disappointed to find that it didn’t work in Windows 8. I tried several other screenshot extensions and they’re all clunky and buggy; this one is by far the lightest and simplest. Thanks for the tip!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Basic HTML is allowed. Your email address will not be published.