What do you do when an Windows error message popups that you do not know? Write it down so that you can research the error message on the Internet?
Keep the error message open and open a browser window to research it? What if there was an easier method that allowed you to copy the full error text with just one shortcut?
Here it comes. Did you ever try pressing CTRL + C when a Windows error message popped up? I know that I did not until recently because I never thought that it would be possible to copy the error message this way.
I can tell you that you can copy any Windows error message, no matter how long it is, with the well known keyboard shortcut CTRL + C and paste it into any editor using CTRL + V. I’m sorry if I’m the only one who did not know this but hopefully it helps out at least some guys who did not know that this was possible.
Here is an example. When you try to kill the csrss.exe process in Windows Task Manager, you are prompted with the following message.
If you press Ctrl-C while the prompt is the active window, its textual contents are automatically copied to the Windows Clipboard.
How that looks like? Take a look…
[Window Title]
Windows Task Manager[Main Instruction]
Do you want to end the system process ‘csrss.exe’?[Content]
Ending this process will shut down the operating system immediately. You will lose all unsaved data. Are you sure you want to continue?[ ] Abandon unsaved data and shut down. [Shut down] [Cancel]
All the information are copied, and you can use them to find out more about the error, or use them in articles or as part of a documentation process.
It needs to be noted though that you can only use the feature if Windows is running. This won’t work if Windows has not started yet, so you cannot copy the text of a blue screen page this way unfortunately or an error message displayed before the Windows interface has loaded.
But whenever you run into an error message, try it out as it may save you lots of time.
I suggest you paste the content of the error message in a text document and copy the title of it first if you need to research it further on the Internet.