Steps Recorder | Capture and Share Windows Troubleshooting Steps

A lot of people don’t know this but there is a built-in problem steps recorder that comes with your Operating System. Mind you, if you are using Windows XP or Vista (Dude! Still? Why?) then you wouldn’t be able to use it. As it wasn’t manufactured back then and they decided to release it with newer versions. If you have Windows 7, 8 or 10 installed then “Hurrah!”, there is something new you can learn.

Steps Recorder on Current Windows Versions

Updated October 2026: This tutorial keeps its original Windows 7 screenshots. Steps Recorder is deprecated and may be unavailable on your PC. If Run cannot find psr, use a supported recording tool rather than downloading an unofficial replacement executable.

For Windows 11 screen recording, Microsoft suggests Snipping Tool, Xbox Game Bar, or Clipchamp. These create video rather than the same annotated step report. See Microsoft’s Steps Recorder guidance for the current alternatives.

Reasons to Use Steps Recorder

Okay, so Microsoft had been thinking intelligent even when you were still learning how to consume food in a womb. Building a problem steps recorder is one of the smartest things they did. For people who are always hung up getting clogged up miraculously in life’s mucky problems, Problem Steps Recorder walked in like a boon.

Why would you use it, you ask? I can’t just think of one reason:

1. It reduces your workload by a colossal amount, meaning a relaxed day by the beach.
2. PSR saves you a lot of time, meaning you can watch one more episode of Westworld before tucking yourself in to bed.
3. It saves you a lot of space, meaning your Porn collection can go bigger, better and kinkier.
4. Steps Recorder avoids you the trouble of explaining yourself over phone or via mail, meaning confined phone bills.
5. It lets the viewer see every action you did. (Careful with that! Do not click on kinky sites, unless you want them to know your dark secrets.)
6. You can send the final file created over a mail, and inform the person of the issue meaning you got a date.
7. It makes the world a better place, where people follow protocols set by Microsoft.
8. It might cause Trump to lose presidency, wait what! (Eh! Worth a shot!)

Ok so now that we know what a PSR is all about, it is time we dig in to understand the process. Made you a step by step dumbed down list of how to work it.

PSR steps: Problem Steps Recorder

Using PSR is a piece of cake. <stomach growls> Okay let’s take a break!

Dammit! tummy you just ate.

Moving on from that bad joke, the first thing you gotta do after having that cake of course is identify what needs to be recorded. I mean, if there’s a problem you are facing, or there is some educating left to do, taking resort to PSR would be plausible. This is how to use it:

Step 1: Go to Run and type psr and press Enter.

You will find a thin strip of an application open. The big red dot would immediately begin to stare at your soul. Yeah! That’s the renowned red button that insinuates “recording” all across the globe.

Oh! Wait there’s a Start Record label right next to it, so that dumbs it down further.

Step 2: Click on the Start Record button. Once you do that, remember recording has started and it will record every ‘step’ that you do. If you are not using your mouse and sitting idle without pressing a button it wouldn’t record that, rather it would be interested in where you clicked or what button you pressed.

You might ask: what if I am entering sensitive information like a password? PSR does not normally record the text you type, but that is not a promise of privacy. Screenshots can still show account details, messages, or a password you have made visible. Close private windows before recording, use harmless sample data, and inspect the saved report before sharing it. So chill, but check!

Adding Comments

If there is something that you need to explain that can’t be understood by the steps you follow, Problem Steps Recorder gives you a provision to do so. Highlight Problem and Comment box allows you to talk your heart out. Okay so that was figurative.

Note: At any point of time you can pause recording by pressing the Pause button on the Steps Recorder if you get that familiar urge to use the loo, and then when you come back click on Resume to get it once again going.

Step 3: When you are done clicking hither and thither, opening and closing windows, doing the job, click on the Stop Record button and wait. The Windows 7 example below opens a Save As dialog. Other versions may show a review window first; inspect the recording and choose Save.

Notice how the file gets saved. A zip file is created so Yay! it helps you save some space on system by compressing what’s been captured.

Step 4: Enter a desired file name. I named mine “Crocodile” with hopes to zip it into a lizard.

Step 5: Double click it open. You will see the extension it has been turned into. An MHTML document with the extension .mht gets created. Don’t run for your asthmatic inhaler yet. It is a saved web archive. Extract the ZIP first and use a browser that supports the MHT file format.

Step 6: You can double click it open. The screenshot below shows Internet Explorer on Windows 7. That is a historical example, not a recommendation to install an obsolete browser. If your current browser cannot display the MHT report, ask the recipient which format they accept or send reviewed screenshots instead.

Notice how the PSR dumbs everything down for your viewer by mentioning every step you carried out, and creates a step by step list automatically.

Additional Details

Apart from that your Recorder also provides an additional box in the end to give you everything in a nutshell.

Then again this part comes to help advanced users or programmers. You can usually leave it alone, but review it before sharing: these details may reveal information about your computer and applications.

So now that you have learnt this useful trick that was right on your computer, it is time to give it a shot. Godspeed Amigo!

Need a simple practice task to document? Try creating a Hello World page in Notepad, then record the clicks you would explain to a friend.