Windows 7 – Problem Steps Recorder

The Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) is one of the cool, but hidden, features of Windows 7. If you ever had to offer technical support to a computer user, you probably know how hard it can be for them to describe the problem clearly. The Problem Steps Recorder is the tool that will save you from wasting your precious time as it allows the user to record the steps to reproduce the problem.

What the tool actually does is taking a screenshot after any mouse click or key stroke, add some technical information and wrap it all up in a zipped MTHML report page. This report page can afterwards be shared with the person performing the technical support who can either view the report as is, or as a slideshow.

Here you can find an example report in which I try to save a read-only file.
To start the Problem Steps Recorder, type and select “psr.exe” or “Problem Steps Recorder” in the Windows 7 start menu.