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.
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.
- Restart NVIDIA Streamer service
- Reinstall NVIDIA driver
- Enable desktop capture
- Turn off Twitch
- Turn on SHARE in GeForce Experience
- 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.
Before you try the solutions below, 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. You can restart your PC and make sure to run GeForce Experience app with admin privilege and see if the issue goes away. In addition, we recommend you check for updates and install any available bits on your Windows 11/10 device. But, if the issue in focus started after you recently updated Windows, you can perform System Restore or uninstall the update – if you prefer not to do neither, you can then go ahead with the solutions below.
1] 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.
2] 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.
3] 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.
4] 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.
5] 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.
6] 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.
7] 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.