Member  asked the following in the Chat Subgroup, but has received no answer: "I use Windows 10 21h2 and nvda 2021.2. How can I use windows senbox with screen reader? If I open it, the screen reader does not announce anything. I cannot even close it with a screen reader."

Since the question of whether it's accessible with NVDA, or any screen reader really, is on-topic for this group, I thought I'd post that here hoping that a definitive yes/no answer might be forthcoming.

If further discussion about how one actually uses the Windows Sandbox is desired, then please continue that on the Chat Subgroup in the topic, Sandbox Feature of Windows.
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Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H1, Build 19043  

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

         ~ John F. Kennedy

 

On Tue, 23 Nov 2021 07:32:44 -0800
"Brian Vogel" <britechguy@...> wrote:

Member  asked the following in the Chat Subgroup, but has received no answer: "I use Windows 10 21h2 and nvda 2021.2. How can I use windows senbox with screen reader? If I open it, the screen reader does not announce anything. I cannot even close it with a screen reader."

Since it is a separate Windows instance it is necessary to start a
screen reader inside Sandbox so first Narrator with an appropriate key
combination and then if desired you can install NVDA as you would on a
fresh installation of Windows.

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HTH
Lukasz

Lukasz,

That was very helpful indeed.

I doubt that anything more could be said about how one goes about gaining accessibility inside Windows Sandbox.  I don't use it, and it is clearly a VM-ish sort of environment, but it behaves even more like a true VM than I had suspected.  It appears you get a perfectly "clean slate" on invocation and must do any necessary setup each time.
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Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H1, Build 19043  

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

         ~ John F. Kennedy

 

Hi,

Regarding keyboard shortcuts, it will feel like logging onto a Remote Desktop session - you would press Control+Alt+Break (Pause) key to switch between host (the computer you are using) and guest (sandboxed environment). The way I run NVDA (or for that matter, any screen reader other than Narrator) inside Windows Sandbox is:

1. On the host computer, prepare the screen reader files - NVDA installer or a portable copy of NVDA.
2. Copy the screen reader file(s) to the clipboard.
3. Go to Windows Sandbox and switch to the guest environment.
4. Open a folder location (say, Documents). The easiest way is typing the name of the folder from Run dialog.
5. When the desired folder opens in the guest environment, paste the just copied scren reader file(s).
6. Because it will take time for files to be copied (especially if you are copying a folder containing portable NVDA files), switch out of sandboxed environment, then use Windows OCR (NVDA+R) to recognize what Windows Sandbox is displaying.
7. Once the copy operation is complete, switch back to the sandboxed environment, locate NVDA executable and run it.

You can also do all these with Narrator on - just before opening the folder in the guest environment (just after performing step 3), press Control+Windows+Enter while switched to the guest environment to start Narrator inside the sandbox. When NVDA starts, close Narrator.

I belive Windows Sandbox was covered somewhat on WinAccess forum (may need to check the archive for that one).

Cheers,

Joseph

Thank you.