Taking a screenshot in Windows 10 is fairly quick and simple. You can easily snap your screen using the handy Print Screen button on your keyboard and fine-tune it via the Snip & Sketch tool. Capturing video of your screen activity is more challenging, but Microsoft makes it possible through the use of a built-in video capture tool called Game Bar.
Game Bar was designed to record games you play directly on your PC, or those you stream from an Xbox One, but it can just as easily capture video of screen activity from your web browser, Windows applications, and many other programs. Any screen activity you record is automatically saved as an MP4 video file.
Game Bar does impose certain system requirements, including the right type of graphics card. If you try to use Game Bar and your PC isn’t up to snuff, you may receive an error telling you that your PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirement for recording clips. But fear not, as there is a way around this limitation.
Enable Screen Recording
First, make sure that Game Bar is enabled. Open Settings > Gaming > Game bar and turn on the switch to Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game Bar, if it’s not already on. If you have an Xbox One controller, or Xbox 360 controller with the right driver, you can even trigger Game Bar through the Xbox button on the gamepad. From this screen, you can also change any of the keyboard shortcuts associated with opening the Game Bar, taking a screenshot, and recording video.
Open what you wish to record. You can start a recording from most applications and windows, but there are exceptions. You can’t kick off a capture from the Windows desktop, File Explorer, or certain Windows apps such as Weather. Otherwise, the field is pretty wide open.
Record Your Screen
Press Win+G to open the Game Bar. Several Game Bar widgets pop up with options for capturing screenshots, controlling your video and audio, and viewing your Xbox social account. The pane also displays the name of your current app, file, or window as the source for the video capture.
Click the camera icon to take a simple screenshot or hit the Start Recording button to capture your screen activity. Instead of going through the Game Bar pane, you can also just press Win+Alt+R to start your recording.
The first time you choose to record screen activity from a specific application or window, Game Bar needs your permission. Click the checkbox to “Enable gaming features for this app to record gameplay.” Click the Start Recording button again, and the video capture starts.
You can now perform whatever screen actions you want to capture. The Game Bar widgets vanish, replaced by a small floating bar in the upper-right corner of the screen through which you can control the recording.
To stop the recording, click the Recording button on the floating bar. A notification appears telling you that the game clip was recorded. Click the notification, and File Explorer opens to the specified location. Just double-click the video file to play it in its associated application.
If you don’t like where video captures are being saved by default, you can always change the location. Go to Settings > Gaming > Captures. Click the Open folder button and choose a different folder.
Recording in the Background
Have you ever done something on your computer and then suddenly wished you’d captured the moment? With the Windows 10 Game Bar, you can record the last several seconds or minutes of screen activity after you’ve already performed it.
To do this, you first need to grant permission for the computer to record your activities in the background. Open the Game Bar and click the Settings icon. Scroll down the Settings screen and check the box to Record in the background while I’m playing a game. While here, you can click the drop-down menu for Record the last and change the interval to anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
Now you need never miss a moment again. Just click the Record last 30 sec button, and a video is generated based on the number of seconds or minutes you set.
Customize Game Bar
You can view your video captures, control which widgets appear, and customize an array of settings directly through Game Bar. Press Win+G to open the Game Bar. In the Capture widget, click the Show All Captures link to see a list of all your captured videos. Click the video you want to play.
Windows allows you to set which widgets pop up when Game Bar is activated. From the Game Bar display, close the window for any widget that you don’t want to see. In the top widget toolbar, click the Widget menu icon to the right of the time, then select the widgets you want to use. You can also turn certain widgets on or off by clicking the appropriate icon on the top widget toolbar.
Click the Settings icon at the right end of the top widget. Here, you can view and change the accounts, shortcuts, theme, recording options, notifications, and other controls for Game Bar.
If you bump into problems with Game Bar, or the tool won’t let you capture your screen activity, your best bet is to check Microsoft’s web page on “Troubleshoot Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10.”
Game Bar Workaround
But what if you receive an error that your device doesn’t meet the hardware requirement for recording clips? Assuming you can’t change your PC hardware or video card, there is one trick you can try courtesy of a third-party utility called Game DVR Config.
Go to the utility’s GitHub page and download the GameDVR_Config.exe file. Open it, and at the configuration screen, check the box for Force software MFT (16 FPS + VBR). Open Task Manager (right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager). Under Processes, select Gamebar Presence Writer, then click End Task. Try Game Bar again to see if it now lets you capture your screen activity.
