How to Take a Screenshot of an Active User Session

Ever wonder how to take a screenshot of a user when s/he is in the middle of a session?  In this post, the second in our five part series of extremely useful ControlUp features, we are going to teach you how to do just that. Click here if you are interested in reading the first post in the series about changing a specific user’s group policy restrictions.

As a sysadmin, you often assist users with desktop support software like Windows Remote Assistance, VNC and other similar technologies. Remote control sessions usually require setup and authorization procedures. Additionally, live remote control sessions can fail and users must then explain the issue that they’re experiencing verbally or send you a manual screenshot. This can culminate in an unnecessary waste of precious time, while also harming the end-user workflow.  Unlike other solutions, with ControlUp you simply take a remote screenshot of an end-user session without interfering with his/her work routine.

How to Take a Session Screenshot?

Let’s say it’s a typical day for you – a user calls about an error that s/he is experiencing and can’t solve. The end-user reads the error off the screen and describes the environment. With ControlUp you quickly and easily locate the user session. With the session open in ControlUp, right click it and then click ‘Get Session’.

session app screenshot

For further transparency and user support, you can choose to inform the user or request approval to take the screenshot. It’s possible to copy, refresh and save a session screenshot. You can also check the ‘Enable Auto Refresh’ box to automatically refresh the user’s session every few seconds. This is especially handy when an error message disappears or if you’re waiting for visual confirmation of a resolved issue.

session app screenshot

Check out the video below, which demonstrates how to capture an end-user session screenshot:

Final Notes

ControlUp enables you to dramatically improve the quality of your support and services. With ControlUp you are able to remotely and seamlessly assist users without interrupting their activities. Moreover, users don’t need to click anything, inform you of specific details like their IP address or their computer model, and don’t need to set up a client program to allow you to access their session. With ControlUp’s powerful troubleshooting capability, you can drastically reduce assessment and fix times from several minutes, as it is with the use of traditional tools, to just a few seconds.

In ControlUp, it’s easy to interact with users, troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly. Stay tuned for the next in-depth ControlUp feature review where we’ll discuss managing user processes remotely.

Learn how using all of the ControlUp features can help you provide a superior end-user experience with the metrics you need to make stellar decisions.  You can catch them on video too.