Remove IsScreenReaderActive() check

andyleejordan · andyleejordan · commit 0065a7c484e8 · 2025-09-29T13:31:36.000-07:00
With the upcoming inclusion of PSReadLine 2.4,
screen readers are now properly supported.
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs b/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs
@@ -1680,35 +1680,6 @@ private void CreateRunspace(RunspaceCreationEventArgs runspaceCreationArgs)
             }
         }
 
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Check if a screen reviewer utility is running.
-        /// When a screen reader is running, we don't auto-load the PSReadLine module at startup,
-        /// since PSReadLine is not accessibility-friendly enough as of today.
-        /// </summary>
-        private bool IsScreenReaderActive()
-        {
-            if (_screenReaderActive.HasValue)
-            {
-                return _screenReaderActive.Value;
-            }
-
-            _screenReaderActive = false;
-            if (Platform.IsWindowsDesktop)
-            {
-                // Note: this API can detect if a third-party screen reader is active, such as NVDA, but not the in-box Windows Narrator.
-                // Quoted from https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/api/winuser/nf-winuser-systemparametersinfoa about the
-                // accessibility parameter 'SPI_GETSCREENREADER':
-                // "Narrator, the screen reader that is included with Windows, does not set the SPI_SETSCREENREADER or SPI_GETSCREENREADER flags."
-                bool enabled = false;
-                if (SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETSCREENREADER, 0, ref enabled, 0))
-                {
-                    _screenReaderActive = enabled;
-                }
-            }
-
-            return _screenReaderActive.Value;
-        }
-
         private static bool LoadPSReadline()
         {
             // Don't load PSReadline if:
@@ -1759,7 +1730,6 @@ private void DoCreateRunspace(RunspaceCreationEventArgs args)
                 bool psReadlineFailed = false;
 
                 // Load PSReadline by default unless there is no use:
-                //    - screen reader is active, such as NVDA, indicating non-visual access
                 //    - we're running a command/file and just exiting
                 //    - stdin is redirected by a parent process
                 //    - we're not interactive
@@ -1770,26 +1740,18 @@ private void DoCreateRunspace(RunspaceCreationEventArgs args)
                 ReadOnlyCollection<ModuleSpecification> defaultImportModulesList = null;
                 if (!customConfigurationProvided && LoadPSReadline())
                 {
-                    if (IsScreenReaderActive())
+                    // Create and open Runspace with PSReadline.
+                    defaultImportModulesList = DefaultInitialSessionState.Modules;
+                    DefaultInitialSessionState.ImportPSModule(new[] { "PSReadLine" });
+                    consoleRunspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(this, DefaultInitialSessionState);
+                    try
                     {
-                        s_theConsoleHost.UI.WriteLine(ManagedEntranceStrings.PSReadLineDisabledWhenScreenReaderIsActive);
-                        s_theConsoleHost.UI.WriteLine();
+                        OpenConsoleRunspace(consoleRunspace, args.StaMode);
                     }
-                    else
+                    catch (Exception)
                     {
-                        // Create and open Runspace with PSReadline.
-                        defaultImportModulesList = DefaultInitialSessionState.Modules;
-                        DefaultInitialSessionState.ImportPSModule(new[] { "PSReadLine" });
-                        consoleRunspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(this, DefaultInitialSessionState);
-                        try
-                        {
-                            OpenConsoleRunspace(consoleRunspace, args.StaMode);
-                        }
-                        catch (Exception)
-                        {
-                            consoleRunspace = null;
-                            psReadlineFailed = true;
-                        }
+                        consoleRunspace = null;
+                        psReadlineFailed = true;
                     }
                 }
 
@@ -3102,7 +3064,6 @@ private sealed class ConsoleHostStartupException : Exception
         private bool _setShouldExitCalled;
         private bool _isRunningPromptLoop;
         private bool _wasInitialCommandEncoded;
-        private bool? _screenReaderActive;
 
         // hostGlobalLock is used to sync public method calls (in case multiple threads call into the host) and access to
         // state that persists across method calls, like progress data. It's internal because the ui object also
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/resources/ManagedEntranceStrings.resx b/src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/resources/ManagedEntranceStrings.resx
@@ -132,9 +132,6 @@
   <data name="ShellBannerRLMode" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>[Restricted Language Mode]</value>
   </data>
-  <data name="PSReadLineDisabledWhenScreenReaderIsActive" xml:space="preserve">
-    <value>Warning: PowerShell detected that you might be using a screen reader and has disabled PSReadLine for compatibility purposes. If you want to re-enable it, run 'Import-Module PSReadLine'.</value>
-  </data>
   <data name="PreviewUpdateNotificationMessage" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>  {1} A new PowerShell preview release is available: v{0} {2}
   {1} Upgrade now, or check out the release page at:{3}{2}
@@ -162,9 +159,9 @@
                   [-CustomPipeName &lt;string&gt;] [-EncodedCommand &lt;Base64EncodedCommand&gt;]
                   [-ExecutionPolicy &lt;ExecutionPolicy&gt;] [-InputFormat {Text | XML}]
                   [-Interactive] [-MTA] [-NoExit] [-NoLogo] [-NonInteractive] [-NoProfile]
-                  [-NoProfileLoadTime] [-OutputFormat {Text | XML}] 
-                  [-SettingsFile &lt;filePath&gt;] [-SSHServerMode] [-STA] 
-                  [-Version] [-WindowStyle &lt;style&gt;] 
+                  [-NoProfileLoadTime] [-OutputFormat {Text | XML}]
+                  [-SettingsFile &lt;filePath&gt;] [-SSHServerMode] [-STA]
+                  [-Version] [-WindowStyle &lt;style&gt;]
                   [-WorkingDirectory &lt;directoryPath&gt;]
 
        pwsh[.exe] -h | -Help | -? | /?
