In VMware Workstation Pro, the NVDA screen reader does not echo the characters typed in edit fields

[Kostadin Kolev]

Since I've started using VMware Player many years ago (and recently - VMware Workstation Pro) for my virtual machine needs, I've noticed that the NVDA screen reader does not speak the characters typed in any of the edit fields in the application. 

The text is entered OK, it can be reviewed OK with the arrow keys, the text selection reporting works OK, the deleted characters are reported OK, but the entered ones are not spoken at all when entered from the keyboard. The reporting of the typed characters function in NVDA is turned on. 

Steps to reproduce:
1. Launch NVDA.
2. Launch VMware Workstation Pro.
3. Create a virtual machine if you don't have one.
4. Select a virtual machine and invoke the dialog for its editing.
5. Go to the "Options" tab.
6. Select the "General" category.
7. Click in the "Virtual machine name" field.
8. Start entering any text.

Expected result:
NVDA should report each character when it is entered.

Actual results:
NVDA does not report any character when it is entered.

Test environment:
- Operating system: Windows 11 Pro version 25H2 (build 26200.8246), 64-bit, in Bulgarian with all locale settings set to "Bulgarian".
- VMware Workstation Pro version: 25H2u1, 25.0.1.25219725.
- NVDA version: 2025.3.3 (2025.3.3.54605).
- Processor: Intel Core i5-13500 at 2.50GHz.
- RAM Memory: 32.00GB.
- Graphics: MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G VENTUS 3X OC, 16GB dedicated memory, desktop resolution set to 2560x1440.
- Sound Card: Realtek ALC897 at Intel Raptor Point-S PCH - HD Audio (Audio, Voice, Speech).

Thanks in advance.

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Attachment(s)

vmsupport-2026-04-27-16-25.zip   8.35 MB 1 version

[James Lin]

That's weird.  The edit fields you mentioned are standard Win32 Edit controls, so I don't think we're doing anything unusual with them.  I assume NVDA echoes typed characters that you type into, say, Windows' Run dialog?

Thanks for the report.  We'll investigate.

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[Kostadin Kolev]

Hello,

Yes, NVDA correctly echoes characters from other text fields in the operating system (e.g. in the "Run" dialog).

Interestingly enough, when I was using VMWare Player years ago, I found out that running NVDA with administrative privileges solves the issue. Now with VMWare Workstation Pro however, even this workaround does not help.

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