Windows Problem Step Recorder

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And if it is a sequence of pictures that convey the steps leading to a problem, then this is invaluable.

Microsoft PSR, Problem Steps Recorder is just that tool that you can use with your clients to record the steps leading to a problem. Microsoft PSR is a free tool that is included with Windows 7.

To start using PSR, depending on your version of Windows, just type PSR and you will be presented with the Steps Recorder form. 

Before you start recording, there are a few settings you may want to change.

Output Location. If you don’t want to be prompted to save a file after recording, click the Browse button to set a default output file name.

Number of recent screen captures to store. The default is 25 screens captures, but you can change the number of screen shots. PSR only records the default number of screen shots. For example, if you took more than 25 screen shots during a recording and the maximum was set at 25 screen shots as the default, you would be missing the extra screen shots. It is recommended that you increase the number of default screen shots to at least 100. Note that in some versions of Windows, 100 screen shots is the maximum allowed.

To start recording a session, click Start Record and every step done in windows will be captured and it will document the entire operation.

PSR creates a screenshot for each action, it also describes each action as text, including the date and time of when the action took place. The document created as an MHT file includes the names and version of all the programs accessed during the recording session.

You can also add comments and doing so allows you to highlight an area of the screen and type a comment related to the area highlighted. Once you stop recording, a zip file will be created. If you already set the Output location, that will be used. Otherwise you will be asked to provide an Output location.

Inside the zip file created, there will be an MHT file that you can double click on and will open in the web browser. The user experiencing the problem can then send the zip file to a Support person to easily demonstrate the issues encountered.

Interested in learning more about how our IT department can serve you? Call Mantralogix at 1-866-320-8922 or email us at [email protected] and we’d be happy to help!