How to use Problem Steps Recorder in Windows 7

The Problem Steps Recorder in Windows 7 is a little known powerful utility that eliminates your inability to describe the computer problem clearly to your tech support.It can be used to automatically capture steps taken in your computer like  text description of where you clicked, screen shots etc that can be used by a support professional or someone else helping you with a computer problem.

It is very useful for tech supports who can’t see what the end user is doing in his pc. When complete, the PSR creates a zipped MHTML report page that can be viewed only in Internet Explorer.

Steps to record and save steps on you computer :

Open Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) by, typing ‘PSR’ in the Start menu’s Search box and pressing [Enter] or  ‘problem’ in Control Panel Search box and click ‘Record steps to reproduce a problem’ .The user interface is very straight forward it looks like sound recorder.

1. Start Record or Alt + A (1) is used to start screen recording.On your computer, go through the steps to reproduce the problem . You may pause and resume recording at any time.
2. When done, press Stop Record or Alt + O (2).
3. Specify a file name and save the recording.
4. You can annotate problem steps using Add Comment (3). Use your mouse to highlight the part of the screen that you want to comment on, type your text in the Highlight Problem and Comment box, and then click OK.
5. Click the down arrow near Help (5) and click ‘Send to E-mail recipient’ to send the problem steps in email.
6. You can also adjust output settings using Settings option found there.

Running with Administrator privilege:

The PSR tool should be run as administrator to record steps that involve administrator privileges.

1. This can be done by clicking ‘Run as administrator’ option found in (5)
2. Or you can click shield icon when recording.

Error simulation:

We have simulated an error by adjusting our screen resolution you can download the file here. <<<CLICK HERE>>>

On the other hand it can be used for explaining  ‘how to do something’ to your users.This little known power utility should find its place in all OS.