Taking a screenshot in Windows is fairly quick and simple, but capturing video of your screen activity is more challenging. There are numerous third-party apps that can handle both tasks, but if you don't want to add new software, Windows has you covered with its built-in video capture tools. For those on Windows 10, the Xbox Game Bar is how you can record video. On Windows 11, you can use the Game Bar or the Snipping Tool. Here's how to use both features.
Xbox Game Bar
The Game Bar was designed to record games you play directly on your PC, or those you stream from an Xbox console. But it can just as easily capture video of screen activity from your web browser, Windows applications, and other programs. Any activity you record is automatically saved as an MP4 video file.
Enable Game Bar
Before you can use this tool, first make sure the feature has been enabled. In Windows 10, go to Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar and turn on the switch for Enable Xbox Game Bar. You can also enable Open Xbox Game Bar using this button on a controller to trigger the Game Bar through the Xbox button on an Xbox controller (or Xbox 360 controller with the right driver).
From this screen, you can also change any of the default keyboard shortcuts associated with opening the Game Bar, taking a screenshot, and recording a video.
In Windows 11, go to Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar and enable Open Xbox Game Bar using this button as a controller to use an Xbox gamepad to activate the Game Bar. To change any of the keyboard shortcuts, you'll need to go through the settings in the Xbox Game Bar app itself.
Record Your Screen With Game Bar
Open the app that you wish to record. You can start a recording from most applications and windows, but you can't kick off a capture from the Windows desktop, File Explorer, or certain Windows apps such as Weather. 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 click the Start Recording button to capture your screen activity. Instead of going through the Game Bar pane next time, you can also just press Win + Alt + R to immediately start your recording.
The first time you choose to record screen activity, Game Bar needs your permission. Click the checkbox next to Enable gaming features for this app to record gameplay. You can now perform whatever screen actions you want to capture. The Game Bar widgets vanish, replaced by a small floating bar on 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 a window pops up showing your video. You can also view your captures from the Capture widget.
Click the Show All Captures link to see a list of all your captured videos. Select a video you want to view, then click the Play button to watch it. From here, you can also delete the clip or access it from its location in File Explorer.
The default location is C:\Users\[username]\Videos\Captures, but if you want to change where videos are saved, open Settings > Gaming > Captures and click the Open folder button, then choose a different folder.
Enable Background Recording
Have you ever done something on your computer and then suddenly wished you had captured the moment? With the Xbox Game Bar, you can record the last several seconds or minutes of screen activity after the fact. To do this, you first need to grant permission for the computer to record your activities in the background.
In Windows 10, go to Settings > Gaming > Captures and turn on the switch for Record in the background while I'm playing a game. While here, click the drop-down menu for Record the last to change the interval to anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
In Windows 11, go to Settings > Gaming > Captures and turn on the switch for Record what happened. Here, you can set the max recording length to 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours.
Now, when something happens and you wish you were recording, just click the Record last 30 sec button in the Game Bar, and a video is generated based on the recording length you selected. You can also use the Win + Alt + G shortcut.
Customize Xbox Game Bar
Windows lets you set what widgets pop up when Game Bar is activated. You can do this by opening the Game Bar with Win + G, then closing the window for any widget that you don’t want to see. When you open the Game Bar again, those widgets will remain closed.
You can remove widgets from the top widget toolbar if you click the Widget Menu icon, then select and deselect the widgets you want to use from the list. Widgets can then be opened and closed by clicking the icon in the top widget toolbar.
Click the Settings gear at the right end of the top widget toolbar to change certain options for the Game Bar. Here, you can view customize shortcuts, link gaming accounts, change audio recording options, enable or disable notifications, and control other settings. This is the only location where Windows 11 users can tweak Game Bar shortcuts.
Game Bar Not Working? Try This Fix
Your computer must meet certain system requirements to use the Xbox Game Bar. This includes having 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. Luckily, there is a workaround.
A third-party utility called Game DVR Config can help you get around Microsoft's requirements. Go to the utility’s GitHub page and download the GameDVR_Config.exe file. Open it and check the Force software MFT (16 FPS + VBR) box at the configuration screen.
Right-click on the Start button and select Task Manager, then find the Gamebar Presence Writer entry under the Processes tab. Select it and click End Task. Try Game Bar again to see if it now lets you capture your screen activity.
Windows 11 Snipping Tool
Windows 11 users have an additional option now that the Snipping Tool can also record your screen. You must have Windows 11 build number 22621.1344 or higher. To check, go to Settings > System > About, and check the Windows Specifications section for the OS version.
If your build doesn’t qualify, head to Settings > Windows Update to download and install the latest update. You should also open the Microsoft Store app, go to your library, and download the available update for the Snipping Tool.
Record Your Screen With the Snipping Tool
You will find the Snipping Tool a much easier option to use over the Game Bar. Set up the window, app, or activity that you want to record, then open the Snipping Tool. You can do this by selecting the app from the Start menu or by using the Win + Shift + S shortcut. Click the camera icon on the toolbar, then click the New button.
A small recording toolbar will pop up at the top of the screen. You can then select the portion of the screen that you want to capture, then click the Start button on the toolbar. You can hit the Pause button to stop the recording, then resume when you are ready. When finished recording, click the Stop button.
A video of the activity you just captured appears on the screen where you can play and pause it. Click the Share icon to share the recording with a person, app, or service. Click the Save icon to save the recording as an MP4 file.
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