Cannot take screenshots...

So I am uncertain when this issue began as I have not tried to take any screenshots for a very long time(over a year) but whenever I attempt to take screenshots I always get the Screenshot Failed error message.

I have spent the past hour asking my FC mates and searching on the internet but nothing seems to work. And to pre-empt the obvious, yes I am administrator for my computer so I have no permission restrictions and I have ownership of the screenshots folder in the windows settings.

First I tried adding both the FFXIV exe's and the screenshots folders to exceptions for Anti-Virus in case that was interfering. No joy.

Next, I restarted my computer, disabling my anti-virus to make sure. No joy.

Third I noticed that the location in the settings menu did not quite match up(in terms of username) to the location of the folder file path on my drive so I attempted to change that, however it then told me that the location folder was read only and so could not be changed. There is absolutely NOTHING I can do about the folder being Read Only, all folders are Read Only by default now on Windows 10 and you cannot disable that fact.

Fourth I tried creating a new folder, but again the game would not let me change the screenshot folder location because the target folder was read only so I couldn't change it.

So as it stands I seem to be stuck in a loop, I can't take screenshots presumably because the folder location doesn't match up correctly with the actual folder and I can't correct the location because windows has all folders by default set to read only and the game won't let me choose a read only folder.

Short of using a third party program to start taking screengrabs, which I would find a very clunky way of doing things considering I don't take screenshots very often I don't know what to do.

Any solution would be very much appreciated.

Good afternoon and thank you for posting on the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

If you have not done so already, could you please try the following trouble shooting:

- Right-click the 'FINAL FANTASY XIV' folder located in 'My Games' and open the folder properties. Uncheck the box marked 'Read Only'. Apply the changes.

- Run the game as Administrator. You can do this by right-clicking the game icon and select 'Run as Administrator'.

- If you have programs installed that perform back-ups of your files (IE. OneDrive), please check to make sure it is not trying to access your screenshots folder while playing. You can adjust these settings by allowing exceptions for folders.

If the above troubleshooting does not resolve the issue, please try checking the game client's directory path to ensure it matches with the directory path where your Screenshots folder resides. An example would be C:\Users\USERS\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\screenshots while one of the directory pathways is C:\Users\MYNAME\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\screenshots


Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

In response to your suggestions.

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- Right-click the 'FINAL FANTASY XIV' folder located in 'My Games' and open the folder properties. Uncheck the box marked 'Read Only'. Apply the changes.

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As mentioned in my original post, I have done that, but you cannot unselect Read Only on Windows 10 anymore. When I uncheck the box it automatically reapplies it the moment you close the window, however this is not an issue for other games with similar screenshot folders, I have tested in 5 different games and their screenshot function works perfectly.

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- Run the game as Administrator. You can do this by right-clicking the game icon and select 'Run as Administrator'.

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I tried this after my original post, it had no effect whatsoever.

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- If you have programs installed that perform back-ups of your files (IE. OneDrive), please check to make sure it is not trying to access your screenshots folder while playing. You can adjust these settings by allowing exceptions for folders.

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I do not have any installed.

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If the above troubleshooting does not resolve the issue, please try checking the game client's directory path to ensure it matches with the directory path where your Screenshots folder resides. An example would be C:\Users\USERS\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\screenshots while one of the directory pathways is C:\Users\MYNAME\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\screenshots

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I mentioned this in my original post, but I shall elaborate. The file path of the default screenshot folder created by the game does not exactly match the path in FFXIV's settings in game(my username has a space in it and FFXIV only has the half of of my username before the space). But as I mentioned in the original post the game WILL NOT allow me change the screenshots folder. Everytime I attempt to do so it tells me that the selected folder is Read Only. I have two Hard Drives in my system and have tried creating a folder especially on both drives and I get the same error message regardless.

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Originally Posted by Ellvar

The file path of the default screenshot folder created by the game does not exactly match the path in FFXIV's settings in game(my username has a space in it and FFXIV only has the half of of my username before the space). But as I mentioned in the original post the game WILL NOT allow me change the screenshots folder. Everytime I attempt to do so it tells me that the selected folder is Read Only. I have two Hard Drives in my system and have tried creating a folder especially on both drives and I get the same error message regardless.

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The MYNAME in the path is the name you gave windows when you made your windows profile, it is not your FF name or tied to FF in any way. That your FF username is different is expected and unrelated to your issues.

If you can't change the Read Only status on the folder, that is an issue with your windows permissions, not the game. Either you aren't logged in as Administrator or you didn't give yourself administrator access when you made your windows profile. Either way, you'll need to log in as an administrator to change the Read Only setting on the folder.

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Originally Posted by Ellvar

In response to your suggestions.



As mentioned in my original post, I have done that, but you cannot unselect Read Only on Windows 10 anymore. When I uncheck the box it automatically reapplies it the moment you close the window, however this is not an issue for other games with similar screenshot folders, I have tested in 5 different games and their screenshot function works perfectly.



I tried this after my original post, it had no effect whatsoever.



I do not have any installed.



I mentioned this in my original post, but I shall elaborate. The file path of the default screenshot folder created by the game does not exactly match the path in FFXIV's settings in game(my username has a space in it and FFXIV only has the half of of my username before the space). But as I mentioned in the original post the game WILL NOT allow me change the screenshots folder. Everytime I attempt to do so it tells me that the selected folder is Read Only. I have two Hard Drives in my system and have tried creating a folder especially on both drives and I get the same error message regardless.

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You want to see soemthing HILARIOUS?

Change the screenshot folder. Put it somewhere else completely different.

Make a folder in the root of the drive, say c:/screen/ ... look at it, confirm that it's not read only.

Now, put that adress into ff14, tell it that's the screen shot folder.

The folder INSTANTLY becomes read only, and locked that way.

Now change it to another folder, that folder locks down, but you can remove the read only on the other folder.

I reported this bug about a year ago, and it was transferred to general and dismissed as me lying by the GM's.

A few months ago a patch fixed it so it stopped doing it and I could take screenshots again. Completely at random with no mention of the bug in the patch notes.

Now it's your turn to fight the system and see if they'll listen.

Goodluck.

Take the screenshot, open something like Paint, Press ctrl+v, save. That Is how i do since 2.0

Add an AV exception to whatever third party software you are using that is hooking to the game process. GShade, Reshade etc. are already easy culprits.

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Originally Posted by Alien_Gamer

The MYNAME in the path is the name you gave windows when you made your windows profile, it is not your FF name or tied to FF in any way. That your FF username is different is expected and unrelated to your issues.

If you can't change the Read Only status on the folder, that is an issue with your windows permissions, not the game. Either you aren't logged in as Administrator or you didn't give yourself administrator access when you made your windows profile. Either way, you'll need to log in as an administrator to change the Read Only setting on the folder.

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I am not refering to my FF name. My windows username has a space in it, it is two words seperated by a space. The file path that FFXIV has for the screenshot folder has only the first of these two words in the MYNAME part of the file path. Also as far as I can see my useraccount is admin, so it says in the permissions.

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

You want to see soemthing HILARIOUS?

Change the screenshot folder. Put it somewhere else completely different.

Make a folder in the root of the drive, say c:/screen/ ... look at it, confirm that it's not read only.

Now, put that adress into ff14, tell it that's the screen shot folder.

The folder INSTANTLY becomes read only, and locked that way.

Now change it to another folder, that folder locks down, but you can remove the read only on the other folder.

I reported this bug about a year ago, and it was transferred to general and dismissed as me lying by the GM's.

A few months ago a patch fixed it so it stopped doing it and I could take screenshots again. Completely at random with no mention of the bug in the patch notes.

Now it's your turn to fight the system and see if they'll listen.

Goodluck.

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Whenever I create a folder on Windows 10, if I inspect it's properties, it is automatically set to Read Only, there is no way I can turn this off(it instantly renables it). As such I cannot change the the folder FFXIV uses in game, because all folders are check marked as being Read Only.

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Originally Posted by Garten

Take the screenshot, open something like Paint, Press ctrl+v, save. That Is how i do since 2.0

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That is a workaround that I have used, but it's clunky, cumbersome and shouldn't be necessary. Hence posting here in search of a proper solution.

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Originally Posted by Sove92

Add an AV exception to whatever third party software you are using that is hooking to the game process. GShade, Reshade etc. are already easy culprits.

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I am not using GShade, Reshade or anything of that type. I run the game purely without any third party software hooking into it.

You … might want to actually look into using GShade.

You can even turn off all the effects if you don’t like the effects, and simply set a keybind for screenshots and it’ll go into whatever folder you choose. This way you can save screenshots without worrying about Win10 being dumb.

It doesn’t hook into the game or anything - it kinda sits on top if that makes sense? Does not interact with any of the game files, and Squeenix literally does not care if you use it.

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Originally Posted by MilkieTea

You … might want to actually look into using GShade.

You can even turn off all the effects if you don’t like the effects, and simply set a keybind for screenshots and it’ll go into whatever folder you choose. This way you can save screenshots without worrying about Win10 being dumb.

It doesn’t hook into the game or anything - it kinda sits on top if that makes sense? Does not interact with any of the game files, and Squeenix literally does not care if you use it.

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Hm, might be worth giving it a look then, thanks!

In the Windows Search slot, type "Controlled" and select the result "Controlled folder access" and click it.
Turn off Controlled folder access.
See if the screen shot function returns to normal.
If it does, great, leave the Controlled folder access switch off.
If you would rather still use the anti-ransomware feature, then have the switch on and use the "Allow an app through Controlled folder access" link, click the + box for "Add an allowed app", then navigate to the FF14 game client install location and add the game .EXE file.

The anti-ransomware feature was added to Win10 in the past year or two, but Microsoft is slow to add "default whitelisted" programs to it's built in definitions, so it's hit-or-miss as to if the exact FF14 you have is pre-OK'd. This is why not everyone has the issue with screen shot saving function, as they either have an updated whitelist, custom set their FF14 screen shot folder outside of Window's protected folders, don't run the Windows protection, or have a game client version that was OK'd.

If you can't adjust the settings on the protection, then your windows user account truly isn't at Administrator permission levels, which will also result in the screenshot function of the game to not work.

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Originally Posted by Kirika-

In the Windows Search slot, type "Controlled" and select the result "Controlled folder access" and click it.
Turn off Controlled folder access.
See if the screen shot function returns to normal.
If it does, great, leave the Controlled folder access switch off.
If you would rather still use the anti-ransomware feature, then have the switch on and use the "Allow an app through Controlled folder access" link, click the + box for "Add an allowed app", then navigate to the FF14 game client install location and add the game .EXE file.

The anti-ransomware feature was added to Win10 in the past year or two, but Microsoft is slow to add "default whitelisted" programs to it's built in definitions, so it's hit-or-miss as to if the exact FF14 you have is pre-OK'd. This is why not everyone has the issue with screen shot saving function, as they either have an updated whitelist, custom set their FF14 screen shot folder outside of Window's protected folders, don't run the Windows protection, or have a game client version that was OK'd.

If you can't adjust the settings on the protection, then your windows user account truly isn't at Administrator permission levels, which will also result in the screenshot function of the game to not work.

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Amazing that it takes you, saying this, to fix the problem (at least, we HOPE it does), and nobody on staff actually had a clue.

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

Amazing that it takes you, saying this, to fix the problem (at least, we HOPE it does), and nobody on staff actually had a clue.

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While it might not fix it for everyone (as the Windows user account settings and file/folder security permissions can cause this issue too), it is a common issue with games that write to the user folders and Windows Ransomware protection.
Disabling/white-listing can also fix the issues of the DXclient EXE file(s) in FF14's engine and the games timed "auto-save" for the character settings, where you will get an in-game chat box message saying to the effect "such-and-such file can not write/save to such-and-such" in red text.

Also, it seems about every time Windows' built in anti-malware is updated, it has a extremely small chance of messing up it's "friendliness" with FF14's game executables, which then triggers the rare "it was working fine but suddenly its not..." issues.

I had the same problem and solved it easy.

Go to C:\Users\YOUR NAME HERE\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn and rename the screenshots Folder into Screenshots.
Then open ingame the System Configuration / Other Settings / Screenshot Folder.
Click it and delete the Location from your Screenshot Folder and replace it with C:\Users\YOUR NAME HERE\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\Screenshots.
Click apply and thank me later.

Your Name here is your Computer Name.

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Originally Posted by Ellvar

So I am uncertain when this issue began as I have not tried to take any screenshots for a very long time(over a year) but whenever I attempt to take screenshots I always get the Screenshot Failed error message.

I have spent the past hour asking my FC mates and searching on the internet but nothing seems to work. And to pre-empt the obvious, yes I am administrator for my computer so I have no permission restrictions and I have ownership of the screenshots folder in the windows settings.

First I tried adding both the FFXIV exe's and the screenshots folders to exceptions for Anti-Virus in case that was interfering. No joy.

Next, I restarted my computer, disabling my anti-virus to make sure. No joy.

Third I noticed that the location in the settings menu did not quite match up(in terms of username) to the location of the folder file path on my drive so I attempted to change that, however it then told me that the location folder was read only and so could not be changed. There is absolutely NOTHING I can do about the folder being Read Only, all folders are Read Only by default now on Windows 10 and you cannot disable that fact.

Fourth I tried creating a new folder, but again the game would not let me change the screenshot folder location because the target folder was read only so I couldn't change it.

So as it stands I seem to be stuck in a loop, I can't take screenshots presumably because the folder location doesn't match up correctly with the actual folder and I can't correct the location because windows has all folders by default set to read only and the game won't let me choose a read only folder.

Short of using a third party program to start taking screengrabs, which I would find a very clunky way of doing things considering I don't take screenshots very often I don't know what to do.

Any solution would be very much appreciated.

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what i'm wondering, is your ffxiv installed to an SSD? if so, consider moving the screenshot folder to an HDD, it was the only way i could take screenshots on my new comp. as i installed my FFXIV to the SSD for faster load times. see how that works before going other routes for getting the screenshots, like 3rd party apps, etc

You have no idea how much you have helped me with this solution! This has been a problem for over a year and this was the easiest fix I found. Thank you so much!

Edit: this was a reply to someone that suggested to move the folder to somewhere else. I just made a new folder on my external harddrive (D:/screenshots) and changed it to that in the game. I can happily take screenshots again. I am saved.

Glad to help.

There's like, 3 different things that seem to cause issues.

In one case, new folder works.
In the second case, new folder is locked as soon as it's made.
in the third case, new folder is locked only once it's officially the screen shot folder of ff14.

The windows ransomware protection is responsible for one of the three.
The other two are still at large, and still ignored if reported.

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Originally Posted by Aneshda

I had the same problem and solved it easy.

Go to C:\Users\YOUR NAME HERE\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn and rename the screenshots Folder into Screenshots.
Then open ingame the System Configuration / Other Settings / Screenshot Folder.
Click it and delete the Location from your Screenshot Folder and replace it with C:\Users\YOUR NAME HERE\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\Screenshots.
Click apply and thank me later.

Your Name here is your Computer Name.

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Thank you so friggin much! I've been trying to figure out how to fix this, and your solution (so far, hope it doesn't change) works! Literally could not believe how simple it was! Thanks!

I wish to thank you the advice you post here helped me , fix the error .

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I am not refering to my FF name. My windows username has a space in it, it is two words seperated by a space. The file path that FFXIV has for the screenshot folder has only the first of these two words in the MYNAME part of the file path.

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My guess would be that the game doesn't like the space in your username so it's only picking up the first part of it. I've seen this with a lot of IT applications and programs, especially older ones (and remember - FFXIV is like 9 years old). Usually can be fixed by encapsulating the folder path in quotation marks, or (as you've noted as the fix) - using a folder path that doesn't have any spaces in it.

If you are on AVG its best to turn off Ransomware Protections to pictures.
Go to Menu>>Basic Protections>>Ransomware Protection:|||(scroll down now should see a File Type and a checklist of things [Uncheck Picture] This make it so it can have picture or screenshot go into the file you want it to go to without having that error)|||