GeForce Experience ShadowPlay recording not working on Windows PC

ShadowPlay is part of GeForce Experience 3.0, which enables PC users especially gamers to instantly record gameplay at 60FPS for the last 20 minutes. If you have GeForce Experience installed on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer, and you find that you can’t record your gameplay with NVIDIA ShadowPlay, then this post is intended to help you with the most adequate solutions to resolve the issue.

NVIDIA ShadowPlay (aka NVIDIA Share) provides PC gamers easy game recording, live streaming and even FPS counter overlay. The utility can automatically save the game in the background or on-demand. If GeForce Experience ShadowPlay is not recording gameplay audio, then read on.

This issue may occur due to any of the following reasons;

Incorrect audio device selected for NVIDIA
System sounds turned Off
Corrupted or bad GeForce Experience app installation Installation

GeForce Experience ShadowPlay recording not working

If you have noticed that GeForce Experience ShadowPlay recording is not working on your Windows 11/10 system, you can try our recommended solutions below in no particular order and see if that helps to resolve the issue on your device.

Initial checklist
Restart NVIDIA Streamer service
Reinstall NVIDIA driver
Enable desktop capture
Turn off Twitch
Turn on SHARE in GeForce Experience
Run Recording Audio Troubleshooter
Restart Windows Audio service
Change default audio output device and configure ShadowPlay Audio settings
Reinstall GeForce Experience
Use another Game Recording software

Let’s take a look at the description of the process involved concerning each of the listed solutions.

1] Initial checklist

Before you try the solutions, if you have the beta version of GeForce Experience installed on your system, you’ll need to uninstall and upgrade the app to the latest stable version – this is because the beta version could get you faulty driver or other faulty NVIDIA applications.

Check system requirements. The GeForce Experience app requires minimal configuration. So, check your gaming system specs to make sure they are compatible. You can check your specifications via the software on the General section. Keep in mind that some GPU series are not fully compatible with ShadowPlay technology – you will need a GeForce GTX 650 GPU or better as the technology is based on a dedicated NVENC video encoding gas pedal.
Check microphone permission settings. Make sure Allow apps to use a microphone is enabled in the Settings app on your device.
Restart PC. A quick restart of your PC can clear any software glitch that might have caused the issue.
Run GeForce Experience with admin privilege. You can run the GeForce Experience app with admin privilege to be sure the app has sufficient permission to run its components.
Update Windows. We recommend you check for updates and install any available bits on your Windows 11/10 gaming device, and make sure the installed version of GeForce Experience is compatible with your current installed Windows version/build.

2] Restart NVIDIA Streamer Service

You can begin troubleshooting to fix the GeForce Experience ShadowPlay recording not working on your Windows 11/10 system by restarting the NVIDIA Streamer Service.

Do the following:

Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
In the Run dialog box, type services.msc and hit Enter to open Services.
In the Services window, scroll and locate NVIDIA Streamer Service.
Right-click the service and select Restart.
Exit Services console.

Now check if the issue is resolved or not. If the latter is the case, proceed with the next solution.

3] Reinstall NVIDIA driver

It’s possible that there are some incorrect settings applied to your graphics adapter driver that’s responsible for the issue you’re currently facing. In this case, to resolve the issue, you need to clean install NVIDIA driver on your system.

To clean install the NVIDIA graphics driver on your Windows 11/10 computer, you first need to uninstall the graphics driver via Device Manager or alternatively use the Display Driver Uninstaller tool. Once done, you can then proceed with the clean install of the NVIDIA graphics driver as follows:

Open the Download page for NVIDIA drivers.
Enter the required information including the NVIDIA driver and operating system in the boxes.
Click on Search to see a list of NViDIA drivers.
Scroll down the list until you find the required driver.
Select its name and click on the Download button.
Open the downloaded driver on your computer and follow the on-screen instructions to install.
Once you reach the Installation options screen, select the Custom (Advanced) option.
Click on Next to see a list of installed components.
Check the option to Perform a clean installation.
Click Next button to install the driver.

Once the driver installation completes, check to see if the issue is resolved. If not, try the next solution.

4] Enable desktop capture

The issue in view is most likely to occur if desktop capture is disabled, as ShadowPlay will be unable to detect if you play the game full-screen. Most games offer you the options to play in borderless mode or full-screen mode. By default, games are recorded in full-screen mode.

To enable desktop capture for the recording to work normally, do the following:

Open ShadowPlay.
Click Preferences tab.
Under the Overlays section, check the Allow desktop capture option under the PC monitor image.

Once done, ShadowPlay should work now. If not, try switching to full-screen mode from the game settings or pressing F11 for other applications like Chrome, VLC. You can also launch the game from the GeForce Experience application itself which launches games in actual full-screen.

5] Turn off Twitch

GeForce users can stream to their friends and family using Twitch streaming service. Some affected users were able to identify Twitch interferes with ShadowPlay’s recording feature. If this scenario app;ies to you, to resolve the issue, you can try turning Twitch off temporarily to see if you can record.

Do the following:

Open ShadowPlay.
Click My Rig tab.
Select ShadowPlay.
Make sure ShadowPlay is activated and then set the mode to Manual.
Head over to the Account section.
Log in and then logout from Twitch.

Now, launch a game and see if recording with ShadowPlay works. Otherwise, try the next solution.

6] Turn on SHARE in GeForce Experience

Some affected users noticed the issue in hand started after an update, as the privacy setting for sharing the desktop was toggled off which disabled the hotkeys and in turn the recording. In this case, to resolve the issue, you need to turn on SHARE in GeForce Experience to allow desktop capture.

Open GeForce Experience.
Click the gear icon to open Settings.
In the left navigation panel, select GENERAL.
Now, scroll down on the right pane to the SHARE section and toggle the switch to On.

7] Run Recording Audio Troubleshooter

To fix sound and audio problems and issues in Windows 11/10, you can run the Troubleshooter, in this case, the Recording Audio Troubleshooter.

To run Recording Audio Troubleshooter on your Windows 11 device, do the following:

Press Windows key + I to open the Settings app.
Navigate to System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters.
Under the Other section, find Recording Audio.
Click Run button.
Follow on-screen instructions and apply any recommended fixes.

To run Recording Audio Troubleshooter on your Windows 10 PC, do the following:

Press Windows key + I to open the Settings app.
Go to Update and Security.
Click the Troubleshooter tab.
Scroll down and click on Recording Audio.
Click the Run the troubleshooter button.
Follow on-screen instructions and apply any recommended fixes.

In addition, you can change Sound Settings on your device and see if you can get better audio.

Read: NVIDIA Share not responding or has stopped working

8] Restart Windows Audio service

Some reported cases of GeForce Experience ShadowPlay not recording gameplay audio on Windows 11/10 was due to disabled audio service. In this case, to resolve the issue, you need to start or restart the Windows Audio Service as the case may be. To perform this task, do the following:

Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
In the Run dialog box, type services.msc and hit Enter to open Services Manager.
In the Services window, scroll and locate the Windows Audio service.
Double-click on the entry to edit its properties.
In the properties window, click the drop-down on the Startup type and select Automatic.
Next, make sure the service is started. If already started, restart the service.
Click Apply > OK to save changes.
Repeat the steps above for the Windows Audio Endpoint Builder service.
Restart PC when done.

If the issue in view is unresolved, try the next solution.

9] Change default audio output device and configure ShadowPlay Audio settings

ShadowPlay will record playback on whatever your default audio device is set to in Windows audio settings. if you go in-game you also have the option to change where to output your audio. if for example, you have normal speakers sound device for Windows, but in-game you’ve changed it to headphones maybe, then ShadowPlay won’t record on headphones, but will instead record on the default Windows audio device which will in that case be no audio/sound.

This solution requires you to change the output device for the NVIDIA app to the default audio output that you are or will be using in-game. To perform this task, make sure Sound Output Device is enabled on your system, then follow the instructions in the guide on how to change Default Sound Output Device. In addition, change the system sound volume and make sure it’s not set to zero. In ShadowPlay Audio settings, you can tweak the Mode, Shadow time, Quality and Audio (make sure to select the correct mic in use) options per your requirement for optimum output; and in-game set the option for Use default system setting.

10] Reinstall GeForce Experience

This solution requires you to uninstall GeForce Experience app, which you can also do using a third-party software uninstaller. After the uninstall process, reboot your PC, and then download from NVIDIA official website the latest version (or a previous version of the app from a trusted resource) and reinstall on your device.

11] Use another Game Recording software

At this point, if nothing has worked to resolve the issue in focus, you can use another Game Recording software like AMD ReLive or Open Broadcaster Software (OBS).

Hope you find this post helpful enough!

Why is my GeForce Experience not recording?

If GeForce Experience is not recording on your Windows 11/10 PC, try the following suggestions: Make sure you check for updates and install the drivers. Also verify that you are running the latest version of GeForce Experience – simply go to the Preferences screen within the app and select the Check for Updates button.

How do I fix ShadowPlay recording wrong monitor?

If ShadowPlay is recording the wrong monitor, ensure that the NVIDIA Control Panel is correctly configured to make ShadowPlay start recording the correct monitor. Do the following: Right0click on your desktop and and select NVIDIA Control Panel from the menu. Then go to Set Up Multiple Displays. Check if there are two monitors listed.

Can you record more than 20 minutes on ShadowPlay?

If you want to record more than 20 min on ShadowPlay, you have to put it in manual record mode and have it recording in the background as you’re playing on your gaming device.

What bitrate should I use for ShadowPlay?

If you set resolution to “in-game”, it appears that you can still set the bitrate to 130mbps, but in reality ShadowPlay will only record at 85mbps. Bitrate is distinct from other measurements of video quality such as frame rate, resolution, or video format. Bitrate is often measured as the amount of information per second.

How do I record Discord audio on GeForce experience?

To configure ShadowPlay to record your chat in Discord, Skype or any other chat program open up your settings and when you select audio device make sure it has the “Game” audio instead of “Chat” audio selected.

How do you record Discord and game audio separately on ShadowPlay?

Open Sound settings, in the Playback tab you’ll see all your audio devices available. You must have the Communication’s device audio and Default audio as two different devices selected. ShadowPlay will record from the Default Audio Device.