Windows7How

Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder

April 18, 2010

The subject of this article is the Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder. Now, some of you out there probably think that this is unimportant and that you do not need to know this. Well, coming from someone who has worked in tech support many times in his lifetime, it is important and you need to know how to use this applet. When you encounter a problem, you will almost always be asked to provide the steps necessary to encounter the problem. The Problem Steps Recorder, once started, will record every step you take to get to the issue, and it will put it into HTML format and zip it up for you to send to tech support. This tool will give everyone involved a much easier time in finding a solution to whatever problem you encounter in Windows 7.

Finding the applet is rather tough, though, as it is not prominent in the operating system (OS). Perhaps Microsoft figures you do not really need it often, so why put it somewhere prominent and make Windows 7 appear more complex than it is? That doesn’t matter here, though (actually, it is likely Microsoft figures you will only need it when you need help, so they can tell you where it is at that time). All we need to know is how to start it up. To do this, you can simply type PSR into the Search box on the Start menu and press Enter. The Problem Steps Recorder can also be found in the Control Panel under the Troubleshooting section heading. Either way you choose, it will launch the same application which we are looking at currently.

Once it is up and running, you will see that it is a very simple application; there are not many buttons on its GUI (Graphical User Interface). To get it working, click on the Start Record button. The title bar on this GUI will start flashing the phrase Recording Now, and the icon on the Taskbar will produce a flashing red dot. This way, you cannot miss the fact that it is recording every action you take in Windows 7. That is a good thing, by the way.

Now, begin to take the actions in the OS which led to whatever issue you have encountered. Just go through the step-by-step process which causes things to go wrong for you so that you can record them and use them later. Fairly simple, eh?

The very useful bit here is how the Problem Steps Recorder will work while you are carrying out your demonstration. After you do the first step – open an application, right-click on an icon, or whatever the first step is which leads to your issue – the Problem Steps Recorder will alter slightly to become more useful. If you were to look at the GUI at this point, you will immediately notice that the Start Record button has been replaced with Pause Record. The Stop Record and Add Comment button are now active and there is a timer.

A smart addition to this application’s GUI is the User Account Control (UAC) shield on the right hand side. If you click this it will prompt you for credentials and, once provided, allow the Problem Steps Recorder to run with Administrator privileges. You can do this to keep the Problem Steps Recorder running in the background when any of your steps to reproduce you issue call for using the UAC (prompted to make changes to the OS). This way it will capture everything and not be restricted.

Another exceptionally useful feature is the Add Comment button. Once you click it while recording your process, it will let you highlight a part of your screen and write a comment. You can explain this so that the person helping you will have that information. Imagine if we all had this back in Windows 95…

Once your process is complete and you have seen your issue reproduced for the Problem Steps Recorder, click on the Stop Record button. As soon as you do you will see the Save As dialog box appear and ask you to name a ZIP file and where to save it. This is the file which contains your step-by-step procedure and any comments you have added. Save it where you will be able to find it and you are done.

To see what is contained in the ZIP file, just open it and view the contents in Internet Explorer. The whole process is before you in HTML complete with images and your comments – everything will be there for tech support to figure out how to solve your issue.

You are done. Just send it to your tech support person or persons and, hopefully, you will have a solution very quickly. Let’s all hope it’s not, “don’t do that!” This is a good tool which will serve you many times over; this is the Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder.

Filed under: Guides

Tags: control panel, gui, problem step recorder, uac, User Account Control, windows 7, windows 95, windows xp