I'm unable to use my print screen button in Ubuntu 14.04. No effect pressing print screen. Screen-shot application works if it's launched manually.
PS: Still does not work perfectly neither in 15.04
Ubuntu – Ubuntu 14.04 print screen button does not work
print-screen
Related Solutions
I'm not sure if Ubuntu 12 has a similar settings tools. Pull up System Settings and look at your Keyboard settings. Shortcuts contain many keys that your system may be expect you to use. Make sure you don't have a conflict with another keyboard shortcut and check that your screenshot shortcut is what you are expecting to use. I've disabled the general ALT key for dashboard that might interfere.
This is what it looks like in Ubuntu 13:
After an hour of googling and trying, I've found a workaround to this weird problem. Install and run CompizConfig Settings Manager:
sudo apt-get install ccsm
ccsm
Click Commands in General category. Ensure the module is activated. Add your custom command on the first tab and set a shortcut on the second one. I set the same command (shutter with options) and the same key (Print) as I'd set before in "regular" system settings. Now the command began to be run instantly.
Best Answer
My PRTSC button also didn't work for a brief moment, and I haven't figured out what caused it, as after reboot it started working again; however what i can offer is a workaround - you could set an alternative shortcut to taking screenshot
The default program to take screenshots in Ubuntu is, as you may now,
gnome-screenshot. You could open System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts, and under custom shortcuts press plus button.A menu such as bellow will appear, where you can enter description and actual command to run.
In the name field enter the description. In the Command field, well, enter the command. In my example, I've linked
gnome-screenshot -w, which is "take screenshot of current window". For more information on gnome-screenshot options, refer to man page (man gnome-terminal).Now after you have entered name and command, press apply, and you will see this custom shortcut be added to your list. Click on the "Disabled", and the text should change to "New accellerator". This is where you set a new shortcut, for instance Super+Shift+P.
Among other things, you could try resetting settings for keyboard to default as shown in this post, but I believe it's a bit to extreme step for such simple problem.
I've also found that for some folks changing kernel.sysrq in /etc/sysctl.d/10-magic-sysrq.conf helped, but I believe it to be unrelated; with PRTSC button inactive and active, that value was the same , 176.