#551 Exclude Password Safe from screen capture in Windows 7

[Mitch Ames]

The release notes for pswafe 3.64.0 mention a new feature "exclude from screen capture". I just did a quick test and although that appears to work on Windows 10, it does not appear to work on Windows 7. Nothing in the release notes or https://github.com/pwsafe/pwsafe/issues/1022 distinguishes between Windows 7 and 10.
Should this feature work on 7 as well as 10?
Perhaps it's not technically possible on Win 7. If not, it's probably worth mentioning that in the release notes and/or help file and/or pwsafe GUI (maybe hide that option in the GUI on Win7?)

I'm using 64-bit psafe, on 64-bit Windows 7 ultimate SP1 and 64-bit Windows 10.

[Kob]

Using V. 3.64.1:
1. Screen Capture Protection is OK on Windows 8.1
2. Screen Capture Protection is NOT OK on Windows 7 SP1 32 bit
a. The small graphic indicator on the main log-in screen shows "Er" in red letters , with a popup , upon hovering, saying "system error".
b. I suggest to address this error message in Win 7 to alleviate any code instability concerns due to unforeseen side effects : at the very least, to indicate that this option is not available for Win 7 in the help/release notes, and maybe to bypass the whole protection code to make the program more robust.

[Rony Shapiro]

Thanks for the update.
As a workaround, you should uncheck the ""Screen capture protection" in the installation options when running the installer on Windows 7.

[Kob]

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I use the zip package, not the installer.
I thought that if I disable the protection in Options/Security the Error icon will not show up on the main log-in screen upon program re-activation but no go.

[Rony Shapiro]

The change in the installer is to set a registry key that requires admin privilege to set but can be read by non-admin user processes.
If you've admin rights, you can set this registry key manually using regedit.

[Mitch Ames]

... set a registry key ...

Which registry key? What are the values?
(I don't run the installer at all - I just unzip pwsafe64-*-bin.zip)

[Kob]

After some experimentation, these will disable the Screen Capture Protection when using the ZIP distribution.

Add the following to the registry:
1. Win 7 32 bit:
a. Create a key and sub-key :
\Password Safe\Admin
under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\

      So you end up with:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Password Safe\Admin

b. Add the following 2 value names and data for the Admin sub-key:

    (Default)  REG_SZ Admin
    ScreenCaptureProtection  REG_DWORD  0

1. Win 7 64 bit:
   As above but the key creation is under
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\

[Rony Shapiro]

Exactly. Thanks!

[Mitch Ames]

Some observations and requests/suggestions after testing pwsafe64-3.65.0-bin on Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit) and Windows 10 (64-bit) ...

Screen capture protection does not work on Windows 7 (Password Safe is still supported on Windows 7, according to https://pwsafe.org/) - it displays a red "Er" in the graphic.
If it is not technically feasible for it to work, please consider:
* adding something to the help file to say so
and when running on Windows 7:
* hiding/removing the graphic indicator from the login and main windows (see also https://sourceforge.net/p/passwordsafe/feature-requests/915/)
* hiding/removing or disabling the "Exclude from screen capture" checkbox in the Options, Security dialog
which would remove the need to add a registry setting to get rid of the error message

When I installed using pwsafe64-3.65.0.exe (on 64-bit Windows 7 or 10) and disabling the protection, the registry setting was only:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Password Safe\Admin]
@="Admin"
"ScreenCaptureProtection"=dword:00000000

I presume the exact registry entries may vary with 32 vs 64 bit Password Safe and Windows.

It would be helpful if the registry settings were included in the help file, for the benefit of those who prefer to simply copy the files from *-bin.zip (and/or use Windows 7.

[Rony Shapiro]

I've added documentation in the help file describing from what version of Windows Screen Capture Protection is supported (Windows 10 version 2004), and the registry key used to disable it (as noted above, no change between 64 and 32 bit).
I'm reluctant to make Windows 7 specific changes in the code, as I've no way to test them on that platform.

Documentation fixed in commit 16c95cd73, will be in next relaese.

[Mitch Ames]

OK. Thanks for that.