Frequently Asked Questions

Trouble-shooting for technicians installing and
maintaining XtR Software >

I have just installed Xtension Recorder on a PC. However the status shows "USB not connected"

Check in the Device Manager. Control Panel-> System-> Hardware-> Device Manager. Under USB devices, the Xtension Recorder should appear as "XtRecorder USB Interface". If you have an "Unknown Device" here, it is likely Windows has not found the correct device driver. Right click, choose "Update Driver" and point the install wizard specifically at the drivers folder on the install CD. If you don't have a CD, the drivers can be found at the bottom of our downloads page.

How do I prevent my users changing their settings?

The XTRconfig program allows you to set protections to prevent users accessing or changing files using Xtension Recorder.

Can I install multiple copies of Xtension Recorder on a single PC?

You can only RUN, one copy of Xtension Recorder at a time, connected to a single device. However you can install multiple variants, and run them separately. This may be required by sales staff for example, who wish to demonstrate more than one telephone system. In order to do this, for EACH variant:

• Install the first variant of the software to your desired disk location. This will copy all the drivers and necessary files to your PC.
• After install, edit your start menu, and remove the entry from “Startup”.
• In the install folder, create a new folder, copy the XtRecorder.EXE and Logo.DLL files to the new folder. Then obtain the backoffice installation disk, and copy the relevant MutliXtR.DLL file, for the correct telephone exchange, to your new folder. Create a desktop link to the EXE to allow it to be run.
• Repeat 3. as many times as necessary for each variant you wish to install.
• Note all versions will use the same data store, and ALL calls recorded from any exchange type, are visible and available for replay.

What is the minimum spec PC for Xtension Recorder?

Xtension Recorder runs on Windows 98(second edition), ME, 2000(all versions) & XP(all versions). It does NOT work on 95 or NT, because they do not have standard USB support. Windows 98 first edition also has problems with non-standard USB drivers. We do not recommend you run Xtension Recorder on Windows98 first edition, and we will not provide support for this platform.

Xtension Recorder has been tested on a Pentium 200, where it ran without a problem. It should work on any PC which can support a USB1.1 device. You must have a USB1.1 or USB2.0 port. Some older PCs may require an interface card to add this. A soundcard is required to replay calls, but is not required to make recordings.

XtRecorder causes my PC to run at 100% cpu usage (or close).

Some elderly PCs have USB1.0 ports. Because these only support small data packets, a huge number of packets are required to stream audio to the PC. This causes the PC to have very high CPU usage. Potentially 100%. USB1.0 is seen on most Pentium1, and some Pentium2 machines. If you have this problem, you will need to add a USB1.1 or USB 2.0 expansion card to your PC. These cost as little as $10.

Calls are being recorded, but I can’t playback the recorded files.

Check the sound card is installed and working by playing a standard .wav file or cd. In some cases very old sound cards may not support our file playback. In this case any new off-the-shelf sound card (typically aprox $25) will solve the issue.

Can I record to a central server?

Yes, the path in the "Disk Management" tab can be any valid Windows path, including a path to a server. For example: \\Server\XTRCalls. Xtension Recorder stores files with the user's Windows login name as part of the filename, so each users' files should be unique. It is still easier to manage if you have a separate folder for each user.

How can I back up calls?

Xtension recorder stores all files using standard Windows file services. You can back these up in the same manner you do for any other files. You set the location of the files on the "Disk Management" tab.

I have a problem running Xtension Recorder on a Fujitsu/Siemens laptop.

The Xtension Recorder uses the power from the USB port. Some customers have reported that Fujitsu/Siemens laptops do not provide the correct voltage for bus powered devices. Please try connecting the Xtension Recorder via a powered hub.

I have removed the Systray icon using the XTRconfig program.
How do I view / restart Xtension Recorder?

Running the EXE program, will activate the initial instance. Alternatively, running "XtRecorder.exe -stop" will shut the initial instance.

On KXTD, I see no audio, or very corrupt audio.

This is due to the wiring of the KXTD system. A typical KXTD system passes data on pins 2+5, and this is what XtRecorder is expecting. If for any reason your system uses pins 3+4 as the main data link, you will need to provide a crossover wiring connection to XtRecorder. If you are using the wrong pair, you may see corrupt or intermittent audio, like this:

Why does Xtension recorder cause noise interference on my KXTD keyset?

When an Xtension Recorder is connected to a Panasonic KXTD telephone, both the keyset and the recordings may experience serious noise interference. This has been traced to incorrect wiring of the phone. If the Tip and Ring wiring pairs are reversed, normally the keyset alone doesn't seem to have a problem with this, but Keyset + Xtension Recorder together experience the noise problem. If you remove the swapover from the wiring, the problem is corrected.

Why does my Xt Recorder say "password required"?

Windows shared folders on a network can be password protected. Xtrecorder cannot send the correct password, so cannot access the network resources. If you "browse", or use "windows explorer" to look at the disk, it works fine. This is because they remember the password you entered in the past. But when your pc restarts, xtrecorder will report the password error, because it does not know the folder password.

If you need a password on your share folder, then you can work around this by creating a creating a permanently mapped network drive on your pc. This will reconnect to the server at startup, and give the correct password. In "windows explorer" choose menu options->tools->map network drive, create a new drive, x: say, point it to the shared folder on your server, and select "reconnect at logon". Then tell xtrecorder to save files to "x:\my calls" rather than \\server\c\my calls.

Back >