Accessibility Turn On or Off Live Captions in Windows 11


Live_Captions_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Live Captions for your account in Windows 11.

Microsoft introduced a new feature called Live Captions starting with Windows 11 build 22557.

Live captions will help everyone, including people who are deaf or hard of hearing, better understand audio by viewing captions of spoken content. Captions are automatically generated on-device from any content with audio. Captions can be displayed at the top or bottom of the screen, or in a floating window. The caption window can be resized, and caption appearance can be personalized by applying or customizing a caption style. Microphone audio can be included, which can be helpful during in-person conversations.

Live captions supports speech recognition in:
  • Chinese (Simplified, China)
  • Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong SAR)
  • Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
  • Danish
  • English (Australia)
  • English (Canada)
  • English (India)
  • English (Ireland)
  • English (New Zealand)
  • English (United Kingdom)
  • English (United States)
  • French (Canada)
  • French (France)
  • German (Germany)
  • Italian (Italy)
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Portuguese (Portugal)
  • Spanish (Mexico)
  • Spanish (Spain)
Starting with Windows 11 build 26120.2705 (Dev), Microsoft is enhancing communication on AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs with live captions and real-time translation. We’re beginning to roll out the ability in live captions to translate more than 44 languages into English, including speakers in real-time video calls, recordings and streamed content. Real-time translation is rolling out AMD and Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs with English as the primary language in use. On Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft is beginning to roll out the ability to do real-time translation to Chinese (Simplified). Supported languages include Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech Danish, German, Greek English Spanish, English, Estonian, Finnish, France, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovene, and Swedish.

Reference:

Turning on live captions will download the live captions language files. Voice data will be processed locally and your data isn't shared to the cloud.

When turned on the first time, live captions will prompt for download of the required speech model to enable on-device captioning.

Live_Captions_agree.jpg



Contents



EXAMPLE: Live captions on Copilot+ PC





Option One

Turn On and Off Live Captions using Keyboard Shortcut


1 Press the Win + Ctrl + L keys to toggle live captions on or off.




Option Two

Turn On and Off Live Captions in Quick Settings


1 Open Quick Settings (Win+A), and

2 Perform an available action below. (see screenshots below)
  • Click/tap on the Live captions button to toggle on and off.
  • Click/tap on Accessibility, and turn on or off (default) Live captions for what you want.

The Live captions button in Quick Settings is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26080 (Canary and Dev).


Live_Captions_button_in_Quick_Settings.png
Live_Captions_Quick_Settings-1.jpg
Live_Captions_Quick_Settings-2.jpg




Option Three

Turn On and Off Live Captions in Settings


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Accessibility on the left side, and click/tap on Captions under Hearing on the right side. (see screenshot below)


Live_Captions_Settings-1.png

3 Turn on or off (default) Live captions for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Live_Captions_Settings-2.png

4 You can now close Settings if you like.




Option Four

Turn Off Live Captions from Live Captions bar


1 Close (X) the live captions bar. (see screenshot below)

Live_captions_bar.jpg





Option Five

Turn Off Live Captions in Task Manager


1 Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc).

2 Open either the Processes or Details page in Task Manager. (see screenshots below)

3 Select the Live captions (Processes) or LiveCaptions.exe (Details) process in the Name column.

4 Click/tap on End task on the toolbar.

Live_Captions_Task_Manager_Processes.png

Live_Captions_Task_Manager_Details.png



That's it,
Shawn Brink


 
Last edited:
According to blog, this is only available in US. Can I just install a US version of windows or would I need to use a vpn set to US (or both)?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop OLED screen
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1800 touchscreen
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
    PSU
    Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
    Keyboard
    Built in UK keybd
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
    Internet Speed
    900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
According to blog, this is only available in US. Can I just install a US version of windows or would I need to use a vpn set to US (or both)?

It appears to be for content and not which language is installed. :(
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
It appears to be for content and not which language is installed. :(
Is there a way to remove this shortcut or uninstall the feature completely? I just noticed it got installed when I upgraded to Windows 11 22H2 and when I choose to uninstall it, it just takes me to Control Panel > Programs and Features but it's not listed there

2023-03-31_142644.png
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware m16 R1
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws F5-5600S4040A32GX2-RS 5200 MHz DDR5 64GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4090 16 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AUO B160QAN02.Z 16" QHD+ 240Hz Screen + ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM UHD 240hz Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    UHD (3840 x 2160)
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 990 PRO 4TB SSDs (RAID 0) + WD_BLACK SN770M 2TB SSD
    PSU
    330W AC Power Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 + Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads + IETS GT300 Cooling Pad
    Keyboard
    Alienware CherryMX mechanical keyboard (Laptop) + SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL - Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (external)
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Rival 5
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    McAfee AntiVirus
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9500
    CPU
    Intel i7-10875H
    Memory
    Kingston FURY Impact 64 GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q w/ 4 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6 UHD+ Touch, InfinityEdge, 500-nits, Anti-Reflecitve
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 PRO 2TB + 4TB SSDs
    PSU
    Dell 130W Laptop Charger USB C Type C AC Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste on CPU + GPU
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 3
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast Free Antivirus
Is there a way to remove this shortcut or uninstall the feature completely? I just noticed it got installed when I upgraded to Windows 11 22H2 and when I choose to uninstall it, it just takes me to Control Panel > Programs and Features but it's not listed there

Hello mate, :alien:

I haven't seen a way to uninstall the Live Captions feature so far.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Is there a way to remove this shortcut or uninstall the feature completely? I just noticed it got installed when I upgraded to Windows 11 22H2 and when I choose to uninstall it, it just takes me to Control Panel > Programs and Features but it's not listed there

View attachment 56770
I'm on the same issue and same symptoms... No Uninstall option nor it shows on the apps list.
Simply disabling it, closing the window or any other of the 5 options above only disable it temporally, after screen lock and unlock or logoff and login back or rebooting brings that window back.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Enterprise
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo/ThinkPad X1
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
    Memory
    16.0 GB
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/1Gbps
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
I just found out a way to disable that permanently.

Turn Off Live Captions using Registry Editor​


  1. Press the Win + R keys to open Run program.
  2. Type regedit to open Registry Editor.
  3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Accessibility by Pasting this string in the address bar
  4. Double click in the key Configuration
  5. Remove livecaptions from the Value data
  6. Press OK
  7. Reload registry (any of: reboot, logoff then login, killing Explorer.exe process)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Enterprise
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo/ThinkPad X1
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
    Memory
    16.0 GB
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/1Gbps
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
I just found out a way to disable that permanently.

Turn Off Live Captions using Registry Editor​


  1. Press the Win + R keys to open Run program.
  2. Type regedit to open Registry Editor.
  3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Accessibility by Pasting this string in the address bar
  4. Double click in the key Configuration
  5. Remove livecaptions from the Value data
  6. Press OK
  7. Reload registry (any of: reboot, logoff then login, killing Explorer.exe process)
I don't have that Accessibility Fubfolder
 

Attachments

  • ScreenShot02.png
    ScreenShot02.png
    56.8 KB · Views: 87

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware m16 R1
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws F5-5600S4040A32GX2-RS 5200 MHz DDR5 64GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4090 16 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AUO B160QAN02.Z 16" QHD+ 240Hz Screen + ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM UHD 240hz Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    UHD (3840 x 2160)
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 990 PRO 4TB SSDs (RAID 0) + WD_BLACK SN770M 2TB SSD
    PSU
    330W AC Power Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 + Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads + IETS GT300 Cooling Pad
    Keyboard
    Alienware CherryMX mechanical keyboard (Laptop) + SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL - Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (external)
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Rival 5
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    McAfee AntiVirus
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9500
    CPU
    Intel i7-10875H
    Memory
    Kingston FURY Impact 64 GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q w/ 4 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6 UHD+ Touch, InfinityEdge, 500-nits, Anti-Reflecitve
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 PRO 2TB + 4TB SSDs
    PSU
    Dell 130W Laptop Charger USB C Type C AC Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste on CPU + GPU
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 3
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast Free Antivirus
I don't have that Accessibility Fubfolder
Maybe in your case it is located in another HKEY_, perhaps HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is another common place for this kind of configuration. I don't think it will be there but you can try HKEY_USERS as well.

For Copy-Paste:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Accessibility
HKEY_USERS\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Accessibility
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Enterprise
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo/ThinkPad X1
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
    Memory
    16.0 GB
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/1Gbps
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
What I did was modify permissions on `C:\Windows\System32\LiveCaptions.exe` then renamed it to have a .bak suffix.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Arch Linux

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