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How-to
Record inside remote sessions and admin windows
What to do when clicks aren’t recorded, screenshots come out black, or you’re working in a virtual machine or over Remote Desktop.
- Plan
- Free
- Reading time
- 2 min read
- Checked against Thoth for Windows on
- October 23, 2026
On this page
Thoth watches mouse clicks across Windows and grabs the pixels the moment you click. That works for almost everything, and a few cases need a setting or a different approach.
Virtual machines, Remote Desktop and screen sharing#
These draw the remote screen inside a window, which the normal fast capture can’t always read. Turn on Compatibility mode under Settings → Capturing → When to capture. It is slower, and it also works in virtual machines, remote desktops and screen sharing.
- 1
Turn on Compatibility mode
Open Settings → Capturing and switch on Compatibility mode.
- 2
Capture the full screen or a region
Choose Full screen or Selected region in the Capture steps dialog, over the window that shows the remote screen.
- 3
Expect plainer titles
Windows can only name controls it can see. Inside a remote screen, Thoth usually sees one big picture, so titles read Click here. Fix them afterward, or let AI write them from the screenshots.
Clicks in one program aren’t recorded#
Windows doesn’t let a normal program see clicks in a program that runs as administrator. Run Thoth as administrator for those: right-click Thoth and choose Run as administrator. Windows’ own secure screens, such as the sign-in screen and permission prompts (UAC), can’t be captured at all.
A screenshot is black or empty#
Some windows block screenshots, such as protected video and a few programs that draw with the graphics card directly. Capture the full screen or draw a region instead of capturing the window.
Several monitors and display scaling#
Thoth captures the monitor you click on, at that monitor’s real resolution, and handles different scaling on each monitor. If a screenshot looks wrong, Settings → Diagnostics shows the monitors and scaling Thoth sees, which is the first thing support will ask for.
The recording shortcuts do nothing#
Another program probably uses the same keys. Settings → Hotkeys marks a combination that is taken or isn’t valid; choose another. Ctrl+Alt+R starts and finishes by default, and it starts only when a guide is open in Thoth.