Craig Bailey

Camtasia Error Failed to resume recording:: Invalid Configuration State

By Craig Bailey
In Camtasia, Link
March 23, 2009
2 Min read
67 comments
C

I have literally spent half a day getting to the bottom of this error, so I’m posting my findings here in the hope it saves someone else having to do the same.

Bottom line: it’s your microphone settings.

I’ve been using Camtasia for years now and never had a problem. Yet, all of sudden today it started giving me this error when I started recording:

Failed to resume recording::Invalid Configuration State

Camtaisa error - Failed to resume recording

After doing all the obvious stuff via Google, uninstalling everything I’ve installed over the past few weeks, changing display settings, installing DivX codecs & changing compression settings, and basically tearing my hair out, I finally found the problem after reading this post where user ‘malikah’ suspected something in the audio settings. Indeed he/she was right.

I discovered that my audio settings looked like this:

Camtasia Audio settings

You’ll notice that I have two entries for the general Microphone (High Definition in the dropdown. Using either of these caused the crash. By simply switching the Audio device to be my Headset Microphone, everything worked fine. Simple when you know right?

Now, I’m not sure why exactly, but I suspect there are some conflicting microphone drivers or perhaps two copies of the drivers both attempting to grab the audio and thus causing problems. Why it has just started happening today I don’t know.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If you are having this problem, and you rule out the audio, then you may want to check this post where one of the Camtasia developers outlines a possible problem (and the solution) due to video compression settings.

Now, to go and reinstall all those applications…

[UPDATE: I tried to go and post this solution on the forum but it needed me to register. Annoying, but OK. Tried to register and their site has an unauthorized reCAPTCHA key and won’t take any new registrations. I tried…]

 

67 comments

  • Hi Craig,

    your blog is really helpful, i met the same problem on Camtasia last week and now your way works!

    thank you for sharing this :)

    Reply

  • Hi Craig,

    your blog is really helpful, i met the same problem on Camtasia last week and now your way works!

    thank you for sharing this :)

    Reply

  • Thank you.

    For folks who do want to use the built-in mic, this is what worked for me.

    Disable the non active mic under recording input devices.

    Control Panel -> Sound -> select recording tab -> highlight the non working device ->
    properties -> device usage -> don’t use this device. Apply.

    Now, either reboot or task manager, processes, select the CamRecorder.exe and kill the process.

    Open the app and enjoy.

    Thanks again.

    Reply

    • I was trying to resolve this issue with my Camtasia for a long time and didn’t find any solution using net, and only your way helped to me, now i can record my screen. The problem was with my built in mic of my laptop.

      Thank you!

      Reply

  • Thank you.

    For folks who do want to use the built-in mic, this is what worked for me.

    Disable the non active mic under recording input devices.

    Control Panel -> Sound -> select recording tab -> highlight the non working device ->
    properties -> device usage -> don’t use this device. Apply.

    Now, either reboot or task manager, processes, select the CamRecorder.exe and kill the process.

    Open the app and enjoy.

    Thanks again.

    Reply

    • I was trying to resolve this issue with my Camtasia for a long time and didn’t find any solution using net, and only your way helped to me, now i can record my screen. The problem was with my built in mic of my laptop.

      Thank you!

      Reply

  • Ah ha! I was wondering why I was having this problem. I disable the built in mic on my laptop constantly but it keeps coming back. When I select the USB mic, everything is fine though. Thanks for posting your findings!

    Reply

  • Ah ha! I was wondering why I was having this problem. I disable the built in mic on my laptop constantly but it keeps coming back. When I select the USB mic, everything is fine though. Thanks for posting your findings!

    Reply

  • this happened to me with windows 7. but i still have a problem. I have a conexant hd audio driver. there’s only one option in the "audio device" dropdown box. and if i disable my microphone (built-in laptop) it’s just empty. i still get the error message box.

    Reply

  • this happened to me with windows 7. but i still have a problem. I have a conexant hd audio driver. there’s only one option in the "audio device" dropdown box. and if i disable my microphone (built-in laptop) it’s just empty. i still get the error message box.

    Reply

  • :( I don’t record audio in my videos, so I assume this solution doesn’t apply to me.

    Ugh..anyone got any idea what else I could do to solve this?

    Reply

  • :( I don’t record audio in my videos, so I assume this solution doesn’t apply to me.

    Ugh..anyone got any idea what else I could do to solve this?

    Reply

  • Nothing you said here was helpful. I keep getting this ridicules error message without even having a microphone connected! So it has nothing to do with the audio settings. Any other ideas? this prevents me from working!!!!

    Reply

  • Nothing you said here was helpful. I keep getting this ridicules error message without even having a microphone connected! So it has nothing to do with the audio settings. Any other ideas? this prevents me from working!!!!

    Reply

  • Thank you SO much – having the same problem and I was rapidly going bald, thanks to you, I at least have some unpulled hair left :-)

    Really grateful that you too the time to post this – much appreciated :-)

    Reply

  • Thank you SO much – having the same problem and I was rapidly going bald, thanks to you, I at least have some unpulled hair left :-)

    Really grateful that you too the time to post this – much appreciated :-)

    Reply

  • Hi – sorry me again – just thought that I’d let other people know – incase they did the same as me….I reset my audio stuff, recorded the audio part fine (after following you instructions). I then unplugged my microphone, went off to do something else, came back and tried to record some screen stuff and then got the error messages again. To fix it I had to plug the microphone back in, reset up the audio stuff – fingers crossed….it seems to be working now.
    Many thanks again for your blog post :-)
    Cheers
    Gina

    Reply

  • Hi – sorry me again – just thought that I’d let other people know – incase they did the same as me….I reset my audio stuff, recorded the audio part fine (after following you instructions). I then unplugged my microphone, went off to do something else, came back and tried to record some screen stuff and then got the error messages again. To fix it I had to plug the microphone back in, reset up the audio stuff – fingers crossed….it seems to be working now.
    Many thanks again for your blog post :-)
    Cheers
    Gina

    Reply

  • Thank you so much, I did read Malikha comments about how to solve this issue but I ignore it because I did not think the problem is from the audio driver. Now after I read your steps the problem gone…

    Reply

  • Thank you so much, I did read Malikha comments about how to solve this issue but I ignore it because I did not think the problem is from the audio driver. Now after I read your steps the problem gone…

    Reply

  • Thanks a lot for the info. It really helped me from losing a lot of time trying to figure out what was the problem with Camtasia.
    Keep up the good work. Best regards,
    Sebastian

    Reply

  • Thanks a lot for the info. It really helped me from losing a lot of time trying to figure out what was the problem with Camtasia.
    Keep up the good work. Best regards,
    Sebastian

    Reply

  • Thanks for the post – this was incredibly useful!

    BTW, on Windows 7, I found the errant device (Control Panel -> Hardware And Sound -> Sound, then the ‘Recording’ tab), and then updated the driver by clicking on the Properties button for the ‘Controller Information’, then the ‘Change Setting’ admin button, followed by the ‘Driver’ tab, and finally the ‘Update Driver’ button.

    Now the default high-def audio (i.e., the built-in microphone) works fine in Camtasia 6, on Windows 7.

    Thanks!
    –Mike

    Reply

  • Thanks for the post – this was incredibly useful!

    BTW, on Windows 7, I found the errant device (Control Panel -> Hardware And Sound -> Sound, then the ‘Recording’ tab), and then updated the driver by clicking on the Properties button for the ‘Controller Information’, then the ‘Change Setting’ admin button, followed by the ‘Driver’ tab, and finally the ‘Update Driver’ button.

    Now the default high-def audio (i.e., the built-in microphone) works fine in Camtasia 6, on Windows 7.

    Thanks!
    –Mike

    Reply

  • Thank You Thank You
    I was about to do all that uninstalling stuff as well

    for the people who say they don’t use audio, it does not mean the settings are correct still have a look

    Saved me hours thanks again

    Steve

    Reply

  • Camtasia 6.0. I solved the problem (Invalid Configuration State) in the recorder bar on the Audio options. Audio Format don’t set to Windows Media Audio V1 or V2. Use another format like PCM, or MPEG 3.

    Reply

  • Camtasia 6.0. I solved the problem (Invalid Configuration State) in the recorder bar on the Audio options. Audio Format don’t set to Windows Media Audio V1 or V2. Use another format like PCM, or MPEG 3.

    Reply

  • Thank you very much for your help on this as it was driving me absolutely MAD !!!!!!!!!!
    It’s sometimes the most obvious things that I always seem to miss ………. so thanks again !!!

    Reply

  • Thank you very much for your help on this as it was driving me absolutely MAD !!!!!!!!!!
    It’s sometimes the most obvious things that I always seem to miss ………. so thanks again !!!

    Reply

  • Whao..!! 3 days installing , uninstalling, testing, forum search with the same problem. And then found this article. Worked for me. Thanks a LOT…!!!

    Reply

  • I am making some videos with Camtasia for teaching. Everything is ok, but when you watch the mp4, from time to time the image get completely distorted, as if to lengthen down. ¿Any body knows what to do?

    Reply

  • hej,

    thanks for this. it is exactly what you have written. i just had 2x Microsofts Microphone activited. Just deactivate the one which is not the standard microphone under properties in your control panel (audio settings). Thats it. 5 min fix ;-)

    Reply

  • I have also noticed that the video compression setting can cause this same issue. By default on Windows 7 the video compression is “Microsoft RLE”. Changing this setting allowed the recorder to run.

    1. In Recorder, go to Tools > Options > Video tab.
    2. Select Manual and then click Video Compression.
    3. Select “Microsoft Video 1” or another option and test to see if it records.

    Reply

  • TIPS:
    1.On the record screen, click “Tools -> Options”.
    2.Click “Video” Tab.
    3.Click “Manual” Option.
    4.Click “Video Compression” button.
    5.Select Codec Type in “Compressor” Options such as…DivX or x264
    6.Click “OK” This problem will solved.

    Reply
Craig Bailey

About Craig

I'm the co-host of HubShots and the CEO of XEN - helping mid-large B2B companies with their digital marketing and lead generation.

Craig Bailey

Archives

Posts