capturing the hostname to be recorded as a variable in Captivate

My apologies, I focused on the recording keyword and missed the 'capturing the hostname.'

You'll likely want to look at the Common JS interface and research capturing that information in JavaScript and returning it to Captivate.

BTW, you're looking to populate a captivate variable with (PC OS) system information. There's no recording involved.

Yes, but it will be invasive to the trainee. And monitor live for odd-keyboard combinations that my interrupt their flow.

Will they know they're being recorded?

You'll need to have Captivate installed on the PC, setup a recording session, have them start training, and when they're done, switch back to Cp to end the session. Hoping the whole time that they don't switch to Cp on accident, as it will end the session.

If you're only wanting a movie of what they did, you might want to use a screen recorder rather than Cp.