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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.
Run Thoth where the work happens
If you can, install Thoth inside the virtual machine or on the remote computer and record there. Then clicks and control names work normally, and you don’t need Compatibility mode.
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.