Snagit (Windows): Self-Repair on First Run


After deploying Snagit to a user base, when a user runs Snagit for the first time (or maybe every time), Snagit attempts to repair itself.


This is a known issue that is fixed in Snagit 13.1.1 and later. Select Help > Check for Updates in Snagit to install the latest version.

Windows 10 Error with Snagit 13.0.0 and Later

There is a known issue where self-repair can be triggered after installing the Window 10 Creators Update. This article will guide you in repairing Snagit.

Snagit 13.0.0-13.1.0

There is a known issue in Snagit 13.0.0-13.1.0 that triggers the self-repair. This occurs when a shortcut is created on the Desktop when creating the transform (MST) file for deployment. The best workaround is to deselect Create shortcuts on Desktop in the deployment tool when creating the MST file.

The common cause for this behavior is when Snagit is being deployed under a SYSTEM account (or an administrator account through whichever deployment solution is being used). Therefore, the registry keys that are placed in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER in Snagit are being created for the account that the software was deployed with, rather than the logged in user account. So, when a normal user logs in and attempts to launch Snagit, Snagit will trigger an auto-repair for the missing resources.

Another possible cause for this behavior is if the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive is deleted every time a user logs out of a machine. If a user logs into a machine, and the necessary resources under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TechSmith\SnagIt\12\ do not exist, the auto-repair will be triggered.

If the source is no longer accessible to the user (the source being the MSI that was used to deploy Snagit), then this prompt will appear:

What can I do to prevent this?

  1. Deploy Snagit through the logged in user accounts rather than through a SYSTEM account. If users are locked, it is possible to enable some features via group policy to avail running MSI's.
  2. Make the source installer available so that the auto-repair completes successfully. Make sure the logged in users are able to access the original MSI used to deploy Snagit. This can be done by creating a SOURCELIST (property name) in Windows Installer.
  3. Use Windows Active Setup. It is possible to add these keys to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE into the transform file and let Windows generate the missing keys for any user who logs in.
  4. Write a script to run on every user when they login. Insert the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TechSmith\SnagIt\12\ registry keys using the script.