What is Session Recording?

RealVNC Connect allows you to record sessions as a webm video file. This feature can only be used on desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, and Linux).

The video file recorded will contain everything visible on the screen of a remote device for the duration of time the recording is on.

How do I record my sessions?

While connected to a remote device, navigate to the toolbar which is at the top of the RealVNC Connect window by default and click on the Screen Recording button.

In the Start Screen Recording window click Start recording button.

Note, you can choose to record to a specific folder using the folder button.

A pop-up message confirms that recording has started. The Screen Recording icon state indicates that session recording is active.

RealVNC Connect is now recording the screen of the remote device. Toolbar and informational messages are not visible on video recording.

To stop the recording click the Screen Recording button in the Toolbar.

Once the recording is stopped, a notification window is displayed.

Click the Close button to close the notification window or Open Folder button to view the video file.

Where are the recordings saved?

Recordings will be saved locally to a folder on your device (the one from which you control the remote device). Recordings are not stored by RealVNC and are not accessible by RealVNC.

The location of the recording will by default be the standard media folder for the OS – on Windows desktops this is %USERPROFILE%\Videos\RealVNC\ .

This location can be configured in the Settings / Outbound / Session Recording section, by using the Choose folder button.

How do I configure Session Recording?

To record all sessions, select Record all sessions in Outbound / Session recording.

To globally enable/disable the Session Recording feature, enable/disable Allow recording in the Session recording settings.

To prompt for a folder in which to store the recording each time it's enabled, enable Prompt for storage folder for each session .

To show a persistent notification when a session is being recorded on the machine you are connecting to, set RecordNotifyAlways to True in Inbound Connection Settings / Advanced

To display a prompt to the remote user that requires them to allow session recording, set RecordQuery to True in Inbound Connection Settings / Advanced

The ability to record sessions can also be configured on a per user or per user group basis where Windows authentication is in use by enabling or disabling the Record the session permission.