Severe Accessibility Issues in VirtualBox on Windows

[RonnyG2121]

Dear VirtualBox Team,
I hope this message finds you well.
I am writing to express my deep concern and discomfort regarding the current state of accessibility in VirtualBox on Windows. As a screen reader user, I have encountered significant barriers that make the application extremely difficult — if not impossible — to use independently.
Critical accessibility issues are present in several areas of the application. For example, selecting virtual machines from the list is not accessible, and navigating through the settings is especially problematic. The most severe issue lies with combo boxes (drop-down menus): screen readers fail to detect or verbalize the available options. It is as if nothing is there, making it impossible to make a selection using only the keyboard.
Due to these issues, configuring the application or selecting a virtual machine without relying on a mouse is unfeasible, which entirely excludes blind or visually impaired users from effectively using VirtualBox.
I strongly urge the development team to prioritize accessibility improvements and ensure the application complies with inclusive design standards, making it fully usable with screen readers and keyboard navigation.
Thank you for your attention.

[yongshing32]

Yes, I am also a screen reader user on windows and also wanted to highlight the accessibility issues of the virtual box manager interface. Almost every part of the interface has some sort of keyboard accessibility issues. I really hope virtualbox team can improve them asap.

[RonnyG2121]

They don't want to reply El 6 de septiembre de 2025 6:31:11 CEST, yongshing32 ***@***.***> escribió:

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yongshing32 left a comment (VirtualBox/virtualbox#7) Yes, I am also a screen reader user on windows and also wanted to highlight the accessibility issues of the virtual box manager interface. Almost every part of the interface has some sort of keyboard accessibility issues. I really hope virtualbox team can improve them asap. -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #7 (comment) You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Dsen-orcl]

Hello and thank you for your reports!

We are aware of troubles Windows screen-readers (like NVDA and Narrator) have and we're going to address them for sure. Our top priority was macOS screen-reader (VoiceOver) support where the situation is much better now, but we're going to improve it for Windows as well.