It's somewhat common nowadays for PC/laptop makers to disable recording from the speakers/headphones -- you can record from the mic &/or line-in jack(s) only. As far as I knew, when/if you had that problem you could either try using a patch cable to connect input/output physically, try to enable recording by editing the registry or using alternative drivers, add hardware without that DRM limitation, or add a virtual audio driver. I found another solution called Freecorder that, while still less than ideal, may work best for some folks...
Since the days when I hooked a record player's speaker wires to an amp & later a cassette recorder I've found that sort of thing just didn't always work as well as I had hoped -- the voltage levels weren't always ideal for input. With a PC/laptop you also loose your ability to monitor the sound when plugging in the patch cable means unplugging your speakers/headphones, or when using the output jack your laptop might turn off the internal speakers. A headphone splitter can help, especially if it has built-in volume control(s) & maybe even an amp, but that's more hassle than some people want to bother with. Virtual [fake] drivers OTOH may conflict with your hard & software, may not always work, & being drivers, they may even keep Windows from starting when things go wrong.
Freecorder is a collection of stand-alone apps including a minimalist audio recorder that doesn't need hardware or virtual audio drivers installed. It only records MP3, & then you can only set the bit rate. In testing it will record audio playing in the VLC player, as well as recording the audio portion of protected & non-protected video playing in Internet Explorer, FireFox, or Chrome. It detected when one stream ended & another began, ending one recording & starting the next -- because of that you have to have it running before the audio [video] starts playing or it'll wait for the next stream to start (& not record what you're after). And it will run & record alongside Screen2AVI, a free video screen capture app -- recording separate streams however you *might* be more likely to encounter sync issues [much depends on your PC/laptop, what you've got running, as well as the frame size & fps you're trying to capture].
Installing Freecorder isn't too bad, but you do have to watch out not to install the included browser toolbars etc., there's an advert at the bottom of the program windows, & you have to click Cancel when messages pop-up to buy better software. Along with the audio recorder you get a video history app that keeps track of video downloaded & viewed in your web browser -- it's a bit like the Nirsoft videocacheview, & like that Nirsoft app will not work with a lot of protected video, but in testing it seemed to be easier to use & did work automatically with Internet Explorer, FireFox, & Chrome.
As far as add-on hardware as a fix goes, good luck... I run Creative hardware & have put up with an endless stream of driver issues for over a decade. When I've tried something else, I've always wound up with whatever company stopping driver development once they sold their fill, so again driver issues, but just of a different sort. To try & mimic the situation so many were encountering, not being able to record playing audio, I picked up a USB audio device for $3 or $4 -- I could set up the XP Mode VM to use only that, & it seemed to be a decent method of testing until today early evening... I just sent off a RMA request for the melted lump of plastic that's left. Luckily it seems I caught it in time & there doesn't appear to be anything else damaged [knock wood], though obviously that sort of testing has come to an end, least for the next few weeks or month or whatever it takes to receive a replacement. [I think I'll make use of that time to get a small bucket filled with sand & run a USB extension to it from a disposable $2 hub before I try any replacement though. :-) ]