The Problem Steps Recorder in Windows 7 is a trouble shooting tool that records the steps one takes in performing an operation that may result in an error. In other words, rather than simply telling someone what the problem would look like, or describing it without details, the problem step recorder captures the commands, and the surrounding environment that they appear in.
In this example we will open up the command prompt window and type ipconfig /all
.
Part 1: Finding the Problem Steps Recorder and launching the recorder.
First we must find the Problem step recorder. For that we can use the search operation.
Using Search to find The Problem Steps Recorder
There are three elements: Start Record, Stop Record, and Add a Comment. The last one can be helpful by letting you give a brief explanation of the problem you are trying to identify.
Problem Steps Recorder
Start Record
This demonstration will show that even for a small set of commands what gets recorded can become a large file.
Next I will add a comment. Which is just simply that we are running the Ipconfig command.
When you are done click Stop Record. When you stop recording, your file is saved as a zip file.
Save the Ipconfig file in zip format
Your next step is to unzip the file. Here it was extracted in the same folder where the zip file resides.
Unzip The File
Part 2: Viewing the extracted file, troubleshooting.
The resulting extracted file will have an mht extension.
Once open, you will see all of the commands you ran until you stopped recording.
In this example, there are 8 steps.
Problem Step1
ProblemStep 2-3
Problem Step4-5
Problem Step 6-7
Problem Step 8
Additional Support Details
This was a simple example, but it shows that a lot of detail is recorded. Not only are the command recorded, but the environment that they appear in as well.
