Screenshots in DOS

There are several programs for taking screenshots in DOS. SNARF, for instance. Using this application succeeded in taking screenshots in most of the cases. Also, the screenshots' quality (.BMP files) by SNARF results to be the highest among the programs tested: ScreenThief, VideoThief, FLIP, GRABBER, SNARF.

Using SNARF with default settings is straightforward, but there is a shortcoming - SNARF always saves screenshots to the folder where the user is currently in. That could be inconvenient or unacceptable. And there is no obvious way to change it. But there is a roundabout option. The initial idea had been found on this page. The result based on it:

1. Download SNARF.

2. Open SNARF.EXE in a text editor in text mode (not hex), find snarf000.bmp and replace it for s:scn000.bin

3. Create a batch file, S.BAT for example, where besides a string for starting SNARF.EXE will be a command assigning the path to the folder screenshots will be saved into to a virtual drive S: The folder and path may be any:

C:\SOFT\SNARF.EXE
SUBST S: C:\SCREENS\

4. Start SNARF:

S [or S.BAT]

5. To take a screenshot:

Alt + S

There will be two beeps. The first at the beginning and the second one as a sign the process has completed successfully. After the screenshots are taken, go to the folder where they are saved in and replace the file extensions from .BIN to .BMP

SNARF - Freeware.

Operating systems

• MS-DOS 6.0+
• FreeDOS 1.0+