Problem Steps Recorder Not Functional

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I have a new Windows 10 install. When I click PSR.EXE, nothing happens. I have run SFC /Scannow and DISM and nothing changes. No idea why it simply does not start. This is what Procmon shows:

Anybody have any ideas? I have it excluded in Bitdefender in case that is the issue.
Brian

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You did not attach the pic correctly.

Which version of Win10?

--Joe

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When you run Steps Recorder, you should see a new icon appear in the Taskbar. If you right-click on the Taskbar and choose Task Manager, you should see Steps Recorder as a running process. Do you not see these?

44428-psr
Click to enlarge

Hope this helps…

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Apologies. I attach the screenshot. It is Win10 64 bit. And no, there is no running process

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Apologies. I attach the screenshot. It is Win10 64 bit. And no, there is no running process

Sorry but… good though it is, Process Explorer just isn’t the right tool to use right this moment (IMO), unless you know how to filter the results.

IMO, the first step is to first check within Task Manager whether Steps Recorder runs and then, if it doesn’t, check whether an event is logged with Event Viewer.

Hope this helps…

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Nothing in Event Manager that I can find. Notthing in the application logs, nor is there a PSR entry under Windows. It is not in task manager. It seems like it simply fails to start.

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It’s strange if it doesn’t even appear, because from the screenshot you posted, the psr.exe process is being created.. See if an issue shows up in Reliability Monitor:

1. Click Start.
2. Begin typing reliability in the Cortana Search entry box. As you type, View reliability history should appear in the search results.

44449-reliability

3. When Reliability Monitor opens, look for any Critical Events and/or Warnings re: Steps Recorder. If there are any, click on the View technical details link in the Action column.

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It does not appear in the Reliability Monitor either!

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Your screenshot shows that psr.exe runs but apparently closes without visible or recorded error. If you look at the very last entry it shows something about the process exiting, marked as SUCCESS and with a process status of 2.

I think that may be a failure to load one (or more) of PSRs dependencies. The only way I know to test this is to use Dependency Walker. I’ve just tested it and Dependency Walker still works in Window 10 x64. (Make sure you download the x64 version and read the FAQ and Help files.)

1. Download and extract Dependency Walker.
2. Right-click on depends.exe and choose Run as administrator.
3. Using File > Open, navigate to C:WindowsSystem32 and load psr.exe. Don’t be surprised by any errors that show in the lower pane, for example:

44457-psr1
Click to enlarge

4. Make sure PSR.EXE is selected in the top-left pane then press F7.
5. Put ticks in ALL checkboxes then click on OK.

Report back what you see in the log area (lowermost pane).

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I forgot something… your screenshot shows BitDefender doing something just after the PSR.EXE process starts. Try temporarily disabling BitDefender to see whether PSR works as expected.

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BD has PSR excluded already, if the OP still stands.

With any security software, simply disabling it doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t still actively or passively blocking or exerting some control! A full uninstall using the makers’ removal tool/procedure followed by a reboot is a much better test.

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Thanks for the information. I will run dependency walker and post back. However, I did find an entry in Event viewer under the Microsoft Application experience tab. There is a steps recorder log. It has logged all my attempts as “An instance of the Steps Recorder terminated with the following error code: 2”
I have PSR excluded from BD and i have run with BD disabled. I am reluctant to uninstall completely. Maybe I can test this with an image back so I can restore if needed.

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Many thanks guys! I ran Dependency Walker. This is what I see in the lower pane. Not sure what the elevation required is. If I run psr.exe as administrator it still fails.

Starting profile on 5/18/2016 at 4:29:58 PM

Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista based Home (64-bit), version 6.02.9200
Program Executable: c:windowssystem32PSR.EXE
Program Arguments:
Starting Directory: C:WindowsSystem32
Search Path: C:ProgramDataOracleJavajavapath;C:Program Files (x86)InteliCLS Client;C:Program FilesInteliCLS Client;C:WINDOWSsystem32;C:WINDOWS;C:WINDOWSSystem32Wbem;C:WINDOWSSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0;C:Program Files (x86)IntelIntel(R) Management Engine ComponentsDAL;C:Program FilesIntelIntel(R) Management Engine ComponentsDAL;C:Program Files (x86)IntelIntel(R) Management Engine ComponentsIPT;C:Program FilesIntelIntel(R) Management Engine ComponentsIPT;c:Program Files (x86)Common FilesAcronisSnapAPI;C:Program Files (x86)Windows LiveShared;C:UsersBrianAppDataRoamingDashlane4.1.1.10508binFirefox_Extension{442718d9-475e-452a-b3e1-fb1ee16b8e9f}components

Options Selected:
Simulate ShellExecute by inserting any App Paths directories into the PATH environment variable.
Log DllMain calls for process attach and process detach messages.
Log DllMain calls for all other messages, including thread attach and thread detach.
Hook the process to gather more detailed dependency information.
Log LoadLibrary function calls.
Log GetProcAddress function calls.
Log thread information.
Use simple thread numbers instead of actual thread IDs.
Log first chance exceptions.
Log debug output messages.
Use full paths when logging file names.
Log a time stamp with each line of log.
Automatically open and profile child processes.
——————————————————————————–

00:00:00.000: Failure starting the process. The requested operation requires elevation (740).

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BTW, I found one other thing. It reported this error:

Ieshims.dll is present in both c:Program Files (x86)Internet ExplorerIEShims.dll and c:Program FilesInternet ExplorerIEShims.dll

I have a Win10 system in which this all works and Ieshims.dll is in the same place. I copied ieshims.dll (from Program Files) to windowssystem32 directory. The error goes away but PSR.EXE still fails.

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Ieshims.dll is present in both c:Program Files (x86)Internet ExplorerIEShims.dll and c:Program FilesInternet ExplorerIEShims.dll

I have a Win10 system in which this all works and Ieshims.dll is in the same place.

On an x64 OS, you can expect to have both x86 (c:Program Files (x86)Internet ExplorerIEShims.dll) and x64 (c:Program FilesInternet ExplorerIEShims.dll) versions of any file that belongs to a program that can use both versions – IE can, and does, open multiple x86 and x64 Processes while you might only see one IE window open!

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I found a very old thread somewhere that said that Steps Recorder can be disbaled with the following key set to 1:

hklmsoftwarepoliciesmicrosoftwindowsAppCompatDisableUAR=1

I found on my system that somehow it was indeed a “1”. Setting ot to ‘0’ and Steps Recorder works fine now.

I have no idea what happened or how I found that thread but anybody else who has the problem, this may be the cause.

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I found a very old thread somewhere that said that Steps Recorder can be disbaled with the following key set to 1:

hklmsoftwarepoliciesmicrosoftwindowsAppCompatDisableUAR=1

I found on my system that somehow it was indeed a “1”. Setting ot to ‘0’ and Steps Recorder works fine now.

I have no idea what happened or how I found that thread but anybody else who has the problem, this may be the cause.

Thanks for posting back. Did you by any chance use DoNotSpy10, O&O ShutUp10 or Spybot AntiBeacon? Any of these can disable Steps Recorder.

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No. I did not.

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Thanks for the information. I will run dependency walker and post back. However, I did find an entry in Event viewer under the Microsoft Application experience tab. There is a steps recorder log. It has logged all my attempts as “An instance of the Steps Recorder terminated with the following error code: 2”
I have PSR excluded from BD and i have run with BD disabled. I am reluctant to uninstall completely. Maybe I can test this with an image back so I can restore if needed.

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But why “not found”? I assume psr.exe is 64 bit? and even after moving it so it is found, psr.exe does not work. What is the elevation it requires? strange …

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Elevation = Run as Administrator, from the right-click menu.

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yes, but as I said it still does not work in administrator mode. What I don’t know is how to specify administrator mode to Dependency Walker and if that is why I am getting the message

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OK. The elevation error message is due to Dependency walker not running psr.exe in admin mode apparently. There is no way to specify always run in admin mode in windowssystem32 directory. So I copied PSR.EXE to another drive and set it up to run in admin mode.
This time dependency walker started to run when I hit F7 and it hooked a whole bunch of modules and then it stopped responding. It did not complete.
Sigh

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I’ll have to back out at this point, I don’t use w10 so I can’t walk through it with you.

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Thanks for trying! Much appreciated.

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Maybe you should try to Reset your PC. Start | Settings | Update & Security | Recovery | Reset This PC (Get Started button). I’d use the “Keep my Files” option.

NOTE: Backup your system, especially your data, before beginning the reset process.

--Joe

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