- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Accessible and FREE Windows 10/11 Backup Software
by Steve Matzura 14 Jan '26

14 Jan '26

I have acquired a client who (1) is not a native English speaker, (2) has no computer training whatsoever, not to mention the money to afford a quality trainer, (3) has been shafted by many who wanted to be her trainer but didn't know how to teach an ESL person and explain things, and (4) weren't truly equipped for the job in the first place. The client knows me very well, has gotten proper references, etc., and has placed her system in my hands. Her system is an abysmal mess. While the operating system--Windows 10--is as up-to-date as its ever going to get, she's running on an overloaded Outlook Express for email, and a broken Microsoft Office 2003 ... yes, you read that right ... for everything else. OE has now stopped working, and we think it's because she never deletes anything. Word has stopped being able to save things to the standard default Documents folder, throwing an error about permissions. I looked into this, and nothing looks wrong. What I propose for her is: (1) make an image backup, (2) provide an accessible way to restore it in case steps 3 and beyond go horribly wrong, (3) completely re-install Windows 10, (4) replace all the Microsoft products with OpenOffice/Libre Office, or something like it, and (5) dump OE and replace it with Thunderbird. My questions are: [1] What's a viable and accessible free backup solution, and [2] what's the best option for an accessible bootable CD or DVD for recovering? TIA

7 13

Experience with taking Comptia test online with PearsonVUE
by Chris Turner 08 Jan '26

08 Jan '26

HI all. I said I'd get back regarding this. I've just passed the Comptia Security+ exam online with Pearson VUE. Woo! I won't talk about the questions, obviously. However, a couple of observations on the test process from a Windows screenreader user PoV. Firstly, once you have accomidations granted, you have to do a system test. This checks network bandwidth, camera, microphone, sound and some security aspects. You may need to disable or uninstall Dropbox for example. I did need help with Aira over a remote call, just to check I was visible in the camera view. This was several weeks ago when accomodations were granted. On the day itself, when you check in to the exam, you do another system test, which is now logged against your ID. I did not use Aira at this time. System passed. You then wait for the proctor to do what ever it is they need to check there end. Make sure you have valid photo ID in case you need to show it. There was quite a delay between checking in and the exam starting. I was getting a bit worried but message on screen says it can start after your appointment time. Eventually the proctor spoke to me and the screen updated so I could proceed. The exam itself was almost entirely accessible. The one bit that wasn't, some text, a fragment of a log, was not read out. I had to used JAWS OCR to access this text. I did not experience any questions with diagrams but this could be possible I suppose too. The rest of it was fine, with standard form controls and no gotyas. Anyway would use again. I'm interested in looking at perhaps trying the penitration cert or Linux cert. Regards Chris -- My stuff. Dreams of Tharsis: Metal, industrial, synth metal, instrumentals. dreamsoftharsis.bandcamp.com LostDroid: Electro, synthwave, soundscapes. lostdroid.bandcamp.com On Spotify, Apple Music, all the usual places...

5 5

Certificates with Pearson VUE
by Jakub Lukowicz 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Hello, I'd like to take one of AWS certificates with Pearson VUE as provider. As a blind person I need some accomodations and I'm wondering if you have any experience with that. I read some information about what Pearson can provide and I'm going to contact them soon. I'm thinking about the following topics: I'd like to take this test online so I need to use NVDA with headphones. Is it allowed given that they run checks on my computer before exam to look for any unauthorized software. I know that they have their own browser to run those tests and I'd like to know if it's accessible for screen readers and whether I could test it before. I'm from Poland and I have documents confirming my disability in polish so do I need to translate them and provide to Pearson to prove that I'm blind. Lastly how this proctoring works? I know that they assign someone to watch me during the exam but are they aware that I'm using accomodations like headphones and screen reader? If you have any knowledge about above topics or any other suggestion please share. Best regards Jakub

6 6

Windows Server 2022 core accessible?
by Armin Moradi 19 Dec '25

19 Dec '25

Hello, i have a task, where i should install a dhcp server with windows server core. I have sugcessfully installed windows Server 2022 core, but, i coult not enable audioservice. I coult only work with the NVDA OCR with in VMware, but that is not so nice. Can i as blind person work with windows server core? Regards Armin Moradi

3 2

Proxmox for the blind
by Armin Moradi 15 Dec '25

15 Dec '25

Hello, i have a homeserver from supermicro. I using VMware 8 in the free version, i thinking about to order a dell T330 server as used hardware. My idear is, that i build an raid controller in. The latest VMware version is supported is version 6.5, i thinking about to use proxmox. Questions: 1. how accessible is proxmox it self? 2. When i install a windows machine, can i enable sound to hear, what is going on? Regards Armin Moradi

5 8

Microsoft 365 Admin Center usage
by Eigeldinger Simon 11 Dec '25

11 Dec '25

Hi all, We just got our Microsoft 365 Admin Accounts for our own Tenant. In the future we will migrate to Microsoft 365 as well. I just had a look at the web interface for M365 Admin and Exchange. Seems the usage of those two have a lot of inconsistencies. Especially navigating through the interfaces, opening context menus, etc. Or also navigating the mailbox list. Are there any recommendations for settings or usage tips? Especially for efficient usage. I can use it but it takes much longer than i want it to. 😉 Any recommendations are appreciated. Greetings and thanks, Simon

3 4

wsl, audio graphical setup
by David Mehler 02 Dec '25

02 Dec '25

Hello, Is anyone using WSL on a win10 or win11 system? If so are you using the graphical interface with audio? I've read much but the process of getting GUI audio and console audio seems convoluted, and I'm wanting to run a graphical environment in one of my WSL instances. Which graphical environment, desktop, window manager, etc is most orca-accessibly friendly? Is either speech-dispatcher or pulseaudio a viable option for console and/or GUI audio output? On the windows host side is either RDP or VNC network-accessible? Thanks. Dave. -- Sent with Thunderbird

1 0

kvm consoles
by mattias jonsson 28 Nov '25

28 Nov '25

why are kvm consoles a piece of shit for blind users? it is near inaccessible at least dell idrac

1 0

Reporting issues with Windows 11 and Surface Laptop installation media
by Andrew Hodgson 13 Nov '25

13 Nov '25

Hi. I wish to report a couple of issues, one isn't disability related but was wondering if you would be able to forward it to the correct department anyhow. Windows 11 media with no Narrator: I built Windows 11 installation media on 01/11 using the Media Creation tool and this didn't seem to contain Narrator. I have seen a number of other blind people reporting this issue. Is there any update on when this may get solved? Surface recovery media not bootable: I wanted to recover a surface laptop 4 using the latest factory image. The latest image I downloaded was: SurfaceLaptop4-Intel_BMR_172010_2025.819.10821033.zip I downloaded this on 11/11. The media doesn't seem to be bootable after writing it to a blank USB drive formatted in FAT32. I got round this in the end by downloading the recovery image for Windows 11 23H2 and booting from that. When it had booted into the recovery environment, I swapped the drive with the one containing the newer recovery image and was successfully able to recover the surface. I realise these recovery images don't contain Narrator but wanted to report this issue anyway. Thanks. Andrew.

1 0

Win11 fresh install with narrator?
by David Mehler 13 Nov '25

13 Nov '25

Hello, Has anyone done a win11 fresh install with narrator speech? I just made a win11 installation iso and booted it tried to load narrator just like in the win10 installation process, and I didn't get narrator speech during the win11 process. Suggestions welcome. Thanks. Dave. -- Sent with Thunderbird

4 3