Feature Request for NVDA to Function Optimally in Virtual Server Environments, like Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 with a Windows 7 VDI

[nvaccessAuto]

Reported by waldorfpc on 2013-12-06 19:40
good afternoon:

First of all, I want to thank you guys for all of your hard work on this project. It is this project that is breaking down barriers for millions of blind people around the world, providing them with opportunities that were otherwise not available to them due to financial constraints. I want to contribute by making a feature request that will undoubtedly impact many who wish to pursue lucrative careers in the technology industry.

It is my desire to see NVDA work with virtual server environments, so blind people can contribute to testing and developing remotely on servers. An example of such a technology is Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Service Pack 1 that runs a Windows 7 professional VDI. For those who do not know, VDI stands for Virtualized Desktop Instance.

As far as I know, the commercial screen readers are limited in this regard. I am not sure what they plan to do; however, I feel that we, as a community, can make this a reality with NVDA if it is not already. It is my heartfelt desire to see more blind people pursuing careers that will pay well and offer a better quality of life.

If this is a feature that has already been included, then that is awesome. If not, please add it in order to have an even larger impact.

I do hope to hear from someone about this particular feature. Thanks for taking the time to read this message.

Your fierce advocate always striving for change,
Reina

Blocked by #3564

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 1 by briang1 on 2013-12-06 22:25
Is this like remote desktop, or programs like Team Viewer do?

It was my understanding that the reson this has not been done is that there is no communication of the vital data Windows supplies to screenreaders, over the remote connection, its basically more or less a kind of bitmap.

I have heard that one screenreader has a mode that can do communication, but this needs the screenreader on the remote machine and the persons machine so the protocol can communicate over an extra link.
I'd be very interested if this sort of thing was easy to do, but i fancy its not!

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 2 by waldorfpc on 2013-12-07 07:07
Hello:

I do believe that this is possible to be done because Freedom Scientific is already doing it with Jaws. While Freedom Scientific is still in the baby stages of this--they have only partnered with one company called Citrix--it is happening nonetheless. Unfortunately, this process is slow moving, and many solutions other than Citrix are not currently supported. Blind people in the workforce do not have time to wait. So, I thought of a better solution. And that is to bring this matter to this community to a bunch of talented blind people to make this happen if it has not already.

I have read some articles on the net about screen readers and virtual environments. From what some blogs have stated, NVDA has worked. I do not know where the one post is off hand that I found. I can update this tracker thread when I return to work on Monday because I do have the link saved on my work computer. I do, however, have some links to pages below that provide some insight.

For instance, I found a mini guide online that explains how screen readers work in the cloud. It can be found at http://www-03.ibm.com/able/news/cloud_desktop_a11y.html

Then, there is an email thread that has been archived on a list serve's website detailing a man's remote desktop experience using Windows Server 2003. This is found at http://lists.nvaccess.org/pipermail/nvda-support/2011-January/002477.html

Additionaly, I have also read that the COBRA screen reader supports remote desktop access. I am not sure to what degree, but I did read about it. You can find some documentation on their website at www.baun.da

I have asked around in tech groups about NVDA having this feature. However, nobody has been able to give me a definitive answer. This is why I have resorted to writing here. I do hope that someone who actually knows something for sure sees this thread and can provide adequate information about such a feature.

I have seen that NVDA had plans to support work in remote desktop environments; however, I am not sure what all has been done or if something is available of that degree. I have seen articles on the web about it. But unfortunately, the users talking about their experiences do not go into detail enough in order for one to know how well it works if at all. So, I made a feature request, just in case this feature is not yet available.

[nvaccessAuto]

Comment 3 by jteh on 2013-12-08 21:26
From what I can determine, Windows VDI uses RDP as the protocol between client and server. This is covered by #3564. I thought other screen readers already supported this as well as Citrix.

The screen reader needs to be installed on the remote desktop in order for any access to be possible. It's already possible to use NVDA on a remote desktop if you bring remote audio to the client, but responsiveness will be fairly poor.
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Added labels: duplicate
State: closed