Snipping Tool Disappearing - Win11 23H2

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John Tokash

I have a peculiar case of the disappearing snipping tool from a customers multi-session hosts. 

I have a client running Win11 23H2 multi-session host images, with a weekly reimage from a desktop image.   Lots of fun stuff in this one, but an obscure problem we've been struggling to track down is getting the better of us.   The snipping tool disappears after reimaging.   I suspect it is an issue with the relationship between apps and user profiles, but am admittedly no expert on the store based application management process and its nuances.    Posting here in case anyone else has run into it, and might be able to shed some useful light.

Ultimately - we see after reimaging, that the snipping tool is not visible in the start menu.   Running get-appxpackage for ScreenSketch produces no results.  Yet, if I use the shortcut key (windows+shift+s) - it still produces a screenshot and stores it in the default location, just not the snipping tool preview or app.   If we run the reinstall powershell cmdlets for it, it comes back and is happy (applied using -allusers parameter) - it is happy for our test user, but any other users, its gone still.     I suspect, because they are not actively logged in, it doesn't really fix it for the particular profile.

Having written this out, I'm wondering if a scripted action could be run (while the affected users are logged in) - that would resolve?   My first swing was unsuccessful because the scripted action PowerShell runs from local system account, and lacks the permissions.

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Dave Stephenson

I know we had another post with something similar (Snipping tool missing after deploy golden image to HostPool – Nerdio Help Center) where they were able to work around it with a script.

However, because Scripted Actions execute as SYSTEM, you are kind of limited in what you could do at the user level.
You could create a scripted action that would create a local scheduled task that would execute as the user on logon, but this might be more problematic than it's worth.

I did go down this rabbit hole of an issue and found a way to deploy Snipping Tool with App Attach (see App Attach is the Future? 🤔 – Nerdio Help Center) that may be a better alternative for you.

Do you know if you've tried App Attach or is there a solution/script that you got working for you?

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John Tokash

I solved the problem less elegant, but with a powershell logon script.   In my specific findings, it seemed like something was getting confused at the user profile level, despite the host seeming to indicate a healthy machine-wide installation.

It is worth noting that the keyboard shortcuts for taking a screen capture still work without the tool, and the majority of end users I've encountered, lamenting the problem - didn't use the actual tool either, they just opened the tool to take the screenshot :-)   So I learned some ways around the problem, and the users learned some more ways to take snippets of the screen and quickly get them to a file (and where to find them after they are gone from the clipboard). 

Since this - I've seen your post on App Attach - and its is anxiously waiting on my backlog of things to look at, good stuff!

At the end of the day, I'd like to understand why this is happening, I cannot help but feel like it will get worse before it gets better, without getting to the root of the issue. 

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Dave Stephenson

That (PowerShell Logon Script) seems like the easiest/most consistent fix if you're not ready to go down the App Attach journey.

As far as "Why?" (this is happening), I've been looking for an answer for years (long before WVD/AVD was even a dream on my radar). I fought it sporadically back when I was using “Ghost” to image computers 😂😞
So far, it just seems like some kind of code gremlin that Microsoft hasn't been able to track-down, yet.

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Chris Leon
(Edited )

You could create a scripted action that would create a local scheduled task that would execute as the user on logon, but this might be more problematic than it's worth

So I actually tried this approach, the logs show everything is working, but when I log in, the apps are not there. Been going at this for the last week or so trying to find a solution. 

I solved the problem less elegant, but with a powershell logon script.

John Tokash , mind sharing what you did? 
We reimage our hosts every night and its been working great for Win10, but in Win11 24H2, all these app issues have stopped me from going further. 

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