Ever needed to boot your Windows machine in safe mode for troubleshooting purposes but couldn't do because of unavailability of speech? It won't happend again! Because here comes Safe Mode Sound Enabler, a small registry patch that will do the magic. To manually enable sound in Safe Mode you have to perform a series of complicated steps that are often confusing for many and not easy to remember. This little patch will do it for you in a few clicks.

What is safe mode?

Safe mode is a troubleshooting option for Windows that starts your computer in a limited state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started. Safe mode is useful for troubleshooting problems with programs and drivers that might not start correctly or that might prevent Windows from starting correctly.

To use NVDA in safe mode:

You will need to install this registry patch first. After it has been installed it will allow you to use NVDA in safe mode. This has been tested on a Windows 7 and Windows 10 machine and with quite a few different sound cards.

Directions to go into and out of safe mode in Windows

You can reboot in to safe mode by doing the following:

1. Press Windows plus R and type msconfig and hit Enter
2.  Press Ctrl plus Tab to get to the "boot tab"
3.  Tab to "safe boot" and check the check mark/check box.
4.  Tab to "base video" and check it as well.
5.  Tab to the apply button. Press Enter (or spacebar).
6.  Tab to the OK button and press it. You should get a prompt to restart the computer to apply the changes.
7.  If you select "restart now" your PC should restart into safe mode.

 Please note: When the registry patch has been installed, when you go into safe mode,  you will have sound and be able to use the NVDA screen reader.

Confirmation of Safe Mode

To confirm you are in safe mode, you can use the NVDA key + letter B. Below is the type of message you will get as an example on a Windows 10 machine.

Safe Mode Microsoft (R) Windows (R) (Build 16299.rs3_release.170928-1534) Safe Mode

After finishing your PC job with safe mode, do the same steps above, but this time uncheck the two check boxes above for both safe boot, and base video. Tab to apply and press Enter. Tab to OK and press Enter (or spacebar) and restart. Your PC will restart to the normal mode.