Problem Steps Reporter

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Surprisingly few software developers know psr.exe, the Windows built-in Problem Steps Reporter. It is a tool well suited to record some steps which lead to a problem in a software and share them with a developer.

  • It is so much easier to use the psr.exe than to write down step by step and make screenshots on the way.
  • Psr is so easy to use, everybody can use it and report problems with it. Even your uncle Sam, 87 years of age.
  • No installation needed. Psr is already there since Windows 7 at least.
  1. Click onto the start button
    Start button

    .
  2. Type in psr.
  3. In the upcoming window, click psr at the top.
    Start menu

  4. The problem steps reporter starts.
    Psr.exe

  5. Click Start Record in the psr.
  6. Do the steps you want to report.
  7. Click Stop Record in the psr.
  8. A Save As window comes up. Save the recording somewhere where you will find it later.
  9. Send the zipped report to the developer by email.
  10. The developer will run the .mht file contained in the zip file by doubleclicking it.
  11. The MS Internet Explorer opens and shows the problem report, with every mouseclick, every dialog box and so on. Very very helpful for the developer.

Advanced

Spy Tool !?

Psr has got a lot of command line options. You could start it automatically and without GUI. The user wouldn’t even notice that it was running. Which makes it sort of a spy tool, says annoyedadmin.
But IMO, psr would make a quite bad spy tool. Because

  • The keys pressed by the user are not visible.
  • Psr can maximally record 100 screen shots.

How to Convert Mht to Html

Mht is a Microsoft proprietary format which normally can only be opened by IE. But Goran Atanasijevic has written and GPLed the converter mht2htm.exe which can convert a mht to several htm-files. You can get it from sourceforge or from me. It works well.

Also, a Total Commander plugin for mht-files called MhtUnPack exists. I have not tested this one yet.