Re enable Import Module Psreadline warning

Question

This warning keeps popping in the terminal of Visual Code app

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'.

Even if I change the value to 0 via regedit, the warning still shows.

Answer 1

The implications of your symptom are:

• Windows is in screen-reader mode (a Windows accessibility feature for the visually impaired) at the time your PowerShell session starts.

• You're using a regular PowerShell session, either in a console window / in Windows Terminal or in Visual Studio Code's integrated terminal.

  • By contrast, if you use Visual Studio Code with the PowerShell extension, which enables a much richer PowerShell code-authoring experience, the problem doesn't occur, because the sessions provided by the extension in the so-called PowerShell Integrated Console do not perform this check (as of version 2021.2.2), and therefore do load PSReadLine (the module providing a rich command-line editing experience) and do not emit a warning. It is unclear if this unconditional override is by design or an oversight.

  • While you could follow the advice in the error message and add
    Import-Module PSReadLine to your $PROFILE file and doing so will re-enable PSReadLine for a rich command-line editing experience, but you'll still see the warning on startup, because it is emitted by PowerShell before the $PROFILE file is loaded. That said, if screen-reader mode is enabled by design on your system, this is the right solution.

---

If this mode is (accidentally) turned on persistently, via the registry, you can turn it off as follows:

Set-ItemProperty 'registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Blind Access' On 0

Note:

• This change requires a logoff or reboot to take effect.
• To query the persistent mode, use:

Get-ItemPropertyValue 'registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Blind Access' On

---

If this mode has accidentally been turned on in-OS-session, by an application that is either ill-behaved in that it doesn't turn the mode back off again or has crashed before being able to do so, you can ad-hoc compile C# code to turn the mode off (gratefully adapted from this GitHub comment) so that future PowerShell sessions in the same OS user session no longer see the warning:

(Add-Type -PassThru -Name ScreenReaderUtil -Namespace WinApiHelper -MemberDefinition @'
  const int SPIF_SENDCHANGE = 0x0002;
  const int SPI_SETSCREENREADER = 0x0047;

  [DllImport("user32", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
  private static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(uint uiAction, uint uiParam, IntPtr pvParam, uint fWinIni);

  public static void EnableScreenReader(bool enable)
  {
    var ok = SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETSCREENREADER, enable ? 1u : 0u, IntPtr.Zero, SPIF_SENDCHANGE);
    if (!ok)
    {
      throw new System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error());
    }
  }
'@)::EnableScreenReader($false)

Answer 2

You can also try this(just woked for me)

Step 1: Open "RUN" (WIN + R)

Step 2: Type "regedit"

Step 3: On the left side, there is a folder named "HKEY_CURRENT_USER"; click on it.

Step 4: Click the sub-folder named "Control Panel" and then click the sub-folder named "Blind access" or follow this path Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Blind Access

Step 5: Right Click on the option "On", chose the option "Modify" and then set the value 0.

Now Restart your computer, and PROBLEM SOLVED!