NVDA does not produces sound on lock screen with UAC disabled

[Danstiv]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install windows 10 pro 2009 on Virtual Machine.
2. Create local user account (when configuring region, keyboard etc).
3. Install NVDA.
4. Set eSpeak NG as the default synthesizer.
5. Enable NVDA on secure desktop.
6. Copy nvda configuration to the system configuration.
7. Disable UAC using reg file disable_uac_win8-10.zip.
8. Reboot windows.
9. Put windows to sleep.
10. Wait some seconds and wake up windows.

Actual behavior:

NVDA working normally (with debug logging level nvda does not log any error, it logs information about pressed keys, speaked messages and other). But NVDA does not produces any sound (synthesized speech, beeps and sound from addon, that plays url stream by BASS library).

Expected behavior:

NVDA correctly sends all sounds to output device.

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

Installed

NVDA version:

2020.4

Windows version:

10.0.19042 workstation

Name and version of other software in use when reproducing the issue:

Other information about your system:

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your computer?

Yes

Have you tried any other versions of NVDA? If so, please report their behaviors.

If add-ons are disabled, is your problem still occurring?

Yes, NVDA without addons in primary nvda configuration (%appdata%\nvda) and without addons in system config (c:\program files (x86)\nvda\systemConfig) have that problem.

Does the issue still occur after you run the COM Registration Fixing Tool in NVDA's tools menu?

Yes

[seanbudd]

This can't be fixed, NVDA needs UAC privileges to be able to read secure screens like the lock screen. Can you explain why disabling is required for you?

[Danstiv]

Disabling UAC seems to mean that all programs that run in the system have administrator privileges. Also, when UAC is disabled, nvda works on secure screens, just silently. Now I'm using a workaround: after windows starts, I restart Windows audio service. After restarting this service, NVDA on secure screens works fine.

[Adriani90]

Reopening this as per https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/13591#issuecomment-1096106282

[XLTechie]

@josephsl any thoughts?

[josephsl]

Hi,

Any comment from the original poster now that:

• NVDA 2024.1 is available?
• Windows 10 20H2 is no longer supported (22H2 is the supported release)?

Apart from this, I have no idea.

Thanks.

[XLTechie]

@josephsl I apologize, I tagged you on the wrong issue. I was actually asking if you had any thought on the related comment: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/13591#issuecomment-1096106282

[Danstiv]

Hi! I am using windows 11 and now I don't turn off UAC. But I have a vm with windows 10 22h2, I can perform testing there. Please also note that steps to reproduce does not use the official method of disabling UAC. It should not be used when retesting.