Accessibility Turn On or Off Voice Access in Windows 11


  • Staff
Voice_access_banner.png

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

Voice access is a new experience starting with Windows 11 build 22518 that enables everyone, including people with mobility disabilities, to control their PC and author text using only their voice and without an internet connection. For example, you can open and switch between apps, browse the web, and read and author email using your voice.

Voice access is currently available in the English language in the following dialects - English - US, English - UK, English - India, English - New Zealand, English - Canada, English - Australia. The first time you launch voice access it will check if your display language is something that is supported. If yes, you can continue with the setup experience. If it identifies that your display language is not in the supported list of languages, it will still give you the option to launch voice access, but in English (US). You can either choose to proceed at this point or turn off voice access.

Voice access includes an interactive guide that explains how to complete common tasks using your voice. In addition to the interactive guide, you can access a complete list of commands by asking “what can I say?” when voice access is listening. You can also access the complete set of voice access commands here.


You can choose to auto start voice access the next time you sign-in to your PC in settings. You can also use voice commands or keyboard shortcuts (Alt + Shift + C and Alt + Shift + B) to control whether voice access is listening or not listening.

Voice access gives real-time feedback of what voice access heard so that you know which word was not recognized correctly.

You can navigate and interact with Windows, including opening and switching applications using your voice. You can also emulate your standard inputs like keyboard and mouse via voice.

Starting with Windows 11 build 23506 (Dev) and build 22631.2050 (Beta), and build 25931 (Canary) Voice access is now available via the accessibility flyout on the Lock screen.

Starting with Windows 11 build 23550 (Dev), voice access can be used for setting up your new Windows devices and navigate through OOBE (“out of box experience”). You can launch the accessibility flyout on the bottom right corner of their screens and click on voice access to enable it.

Starting with Windows 11 build 22631.3235, you can now use all voice access features on multiple displays, including number and grid overlays which were previously unavailable on any display other than the primary one. The grid overlay feature has been further developed to allow you to not only interact with the screen you are currently using, but also quickly switch to another display. You can also use the drag and drop feature to move files, apps, and documents from one display to another.

Starting with Windows 11 build 26058 (Canary and Dev), WIN + CTRL + S will now open voice access instead of Windows Speech Recognition (WSR). Windows 11 is transitioning from WSR to voice access. WSR is being deprecated.

References:

When you turn on voice activation, it runs the C:\Windows\System32\VoiceAccess.exe application file.

When you turn on voice access for the first time, it will prompt you to Download a speech model for the on-device speech recognition. Once it is downloaded, you can choose a microphone you want to use with voice access and start using your voice to control your PC. (see screenshot below)

set_up_voice_access.jpg


Windows 11 is transitioning from Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) to voice access. WSR is being deprecated. A dialog will pop up when WSR is opened directing you to try voice access and Microsoft has also added a banner under Settings > Accessibility > Speech as well. Voice access, is Microsoft's new assistive technology in Windows 11, uses on-device speech recognition, enabling control of your PC and authoring text without an internet connection. It will support multiple languages and custom commands in a future update (these features are now available for Windows Insiders to try in the Dev and Beta Channels). Microsoft recommends WSR users try and start using voice access today.



Contents

  • Option One: Turn On or Off Voice Access using Keyboard Shortcut
  • Option Two: Turn On or Off Voice Access on Sign-in Screen
  • Option Three: Turn On or Off Voice Access in Settings
  • Option Four: Turn Off Voice Access from Voice Access Toolbar


EXAMPLE: Voice access in the listening state

Voice-access-bar.jpg





Option One

Turn On or Off Voice Access using Keyboard Shortcut


This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26058 (Canary and Dev).


1 Press the Win :win: + Ctrl + S keys to toggle Voice Access on and off.




Option Two

Turn On or Off Voice Access on Sign-in Screen


This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 23506 (Dev) and build 22631.2050 (Beta), and build 25931 (Canary).


1 While on the Sign-in screen with your account selected, click/tap on the Accessibility icon. (see screenshot below)

2 Turn On or Off (default) Voice access for what you want.

Voice_access_sign-in_screen.jpg





Option Three

Turn On or Off Voice Access in Settings


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

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


Voice_access_Settings-1.png

3 Turn On or Off (default) Voice access for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Voice_access_Settings-2.png

4 You can now close Settings if you like.




Option Four

Turn Off Voice Access from Voice Access Toolbar


1 Click/tap on the Settings (gear) icon on the voice access toolbar at the top of the screen. (see screenshot below)

2 Click/tap on Turn off voice access.

Voice_access.png



That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦22631.3374 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 4702)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?
:shawn:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
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    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,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦22631.3374 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 4702)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?
I often use Voice Typing to dictate text. Windows key + H. Will give Voice Access a try next time I am doing speech to text. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Desktop TE02-0xxx
    CPU
    2.10GHz Intel 12th Gen Core i7-12700
    Motherboard
    HP 'BlizzardU' 894B 10; Chipset Intel ADL Z690
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 3050
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP27er
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    256GB NVMe SSD
    2TB HDD
    PSU
    600W
    Case
    Desktop Tower
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Logitech K350
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    25Mps (Max)
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows native security
    Other Info
    HP replaced SSD under warranty in November, 2023.

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