Narrator Keeps turning on on login screen

Question

Recently, I have found that every time I restart or lock my computer, Narrator turns on when the login screen shows up.

Using Caps+Esc or going to the "Ease of Access" Menu -> "Narrator" and choosing "Exit" both work to turn off Narrator. However, if I do not turn off narrator, it stays open in the taskbar after I have logged in, but without a settings window - the only way to close it is from Task Manager.

I have never to my knowledge pressed the Win+Enter combination that starts Narrator, and all of the relevant settings in the "Ease of Access" control panel are turned off.

I saw these questions, but neither of them really has the same symptoms and I don't want to permanently disable narrator because I want to be able to use it in the future.

Why does my computer do this? How can I fix it?

Answer 1

I had a similar issue and found that Narrator wasn't enabled in either the Desktop or Modern UI, yet whenever I locked/logged out Narrator would start speaking to me. I eventually got it to stop by doing this:

1. Search Ease of Access Center and open it
2. Click "Change sign-in settings" in the left sidebar
3. Next to "(Narrator)", check the box under the "At sign-in" column
4. Press [Apply]
5. Uncheck the same box, then press [Apply] again
6. Close the window and then lock your computer

If you don't hear the Narrator then congrats it worked.

Answer 2

After opening a "Windows Modern UI" Application, and seeing a flash of the blue Narrator-is-reading-this-box-of-text border, I realized that I should also check the full-screen Settings application in addition to the regular Ease of Access Center.

I found that, in addition to the settings in the traditional Ease of Access Center, there is also an Ease of Access Center in the modern settings. Here, Narrator was somehow turned on.

After I turned off Narrator here, I had to restart the computer in order for the change to take effect.

Answer 3

If you find that Narrator still kicks in when logging in, even when all the settings indicate that it is off (as per previous answer) and you can't find it in start-up or services in the task manager, then this may be your only route. This was executed on a Windows 8.1 x64 desktop system. If you do follow the procedure below then it is at your own risk. If you are unsure of your abilities to carry out this procedure then look elsewhere.

A warning notification along the lines of "Are you sure..." will appear at times during this procedure. Click on "OK" when it does.

1. Log on in to an account with administrator rights
2. From a file manager or via "This PC" navigate to "C:\windows\system32"
3. Find the file "Narrator", right click and from the menu select "properties"
4. Select the "Security" tab and then click the "Advanced" button
5. Click on the word "Change" (in blue), on the same line as the "Owner"
6. In the "Enter the object name to select (examples)" box type the name of the account with administrative right that you are using.
7. Click on the "Check Names" button and if all is well then click on the "OK" button. If not then check your spelling.
8. Click on the "OK" button on the "Advanced Security" box.
9. Reboot computer.
10. Do steps 1 - 3 and again select the "Security" tab.
11. Click on the "Edit" button and then click on "Administrators (General-Windows\Administrators)"
12. In the "Permissions for Administrators" box click on the "Modify" "Allow" check box. A tick should appear. Click on "OK".
13. Click on "OK" to close the "Properties" box.
14. Rename "Narrator" to something else (try and give it a name you will remember as you might need it at a later date).
15. Go back into the "Properties" box and click on the edit button to remove the "Modify" and "Write" permissions. Then the "OK" buttons on both boxes.

Hopefully, as with my system, the problem will be gone. Remember the Narrator program may reappear with future updates.

Answer 4

I will rename Narrator to solve the issue that I face from time to time.

I had two other solutions. One is using a security program that I used to lock the program from access but that just made the system unstable. Another way that works as well is to write a script that will kill process at lock or unlock screen. It works in combo with Task Scheduler and nircmd.

To rename system in an easy way. Just download Hiren's bootCD and create a bootable USB with RUFUS then boot into Hiren's bootCD and then you can easily rename any file.