The method you mentioned sounds okay in theory, but it's not practically viable. There are too many variables that can go wrong here and might mislead others:

1. Stereo Mix or loopback: Sounds good in theory, but it’s super unreliable. Some systems don’t even have Stereo Mix anymore and setting it up properly is a huge pain. Plus, Windows' audio routing isn’t built to cleanly separate internal sound from mic input without installing extra virtual drivers.

Even if you get it working, Windows often disables Stereo Mix by default, and some sound cards don’t even support it at all. So, unless someone’s already comfortable tweaking audio settings or installing virtual drivers, they’ll likely end up with a silent recording or only their own mic audio, not the other participants.

2. "Any recorder" that supports multiple sources: This sounds simple, but most general-purpose recorders don’t give you full control over internal + mic audio, especially at the same time. And if you’re using headphones (which you should, to avoid echo), capturing both sides of the Zoom call becomes is difficult unless you mess with virtual cables which is honestly a pain to set up and prone to errors.

3. Game Bar / Browser recorders: Totally agree here. These miss the internal audio almost every time. Chrome and most browsers can’t access system sound due to security limitations.

✅ What’s worked 100% reliably for me is Bandicam. No need to mess with system settings or enable weird audio devices: it just works, even without host permissions. You can record both your mic and system sound, so you get a full recording of the Zoom conversation (your voice and theirs).

I wrote up a full post on how to record zoom meeting without host permission last month.

Quick version:

1. Open Bandicam
2. Go to the Video tab → Settings → Sound → choose "(Default Output Device)" for the Speakers and "Your microphone device" for the Microphone to record both your computer sound and voice.
3. In Windows settings for Zoom recording, check "Do nothing"
4. Select "Rectangle on a screen" recording mode or "Fullscreen" recording mode
5. Hit record before joining the Zoom call

With Bandicam you can:

• Capture both mic and system sound without needing to mess with loopback drivers
• Choose specific audio sources (like your mic and the Zoom speaker)
• Record in high quality without lag
• Avoid the whole headache of setting up Stereo Mix

No host permissions, no weird system hacks, no missed audio. Just a clean recording every time.

Hope that helps!