When I first wrote about using virtual machines with a screen reader, I mentioned that the machine management of VMWare’s Workstation was challenging. VMWare Workstation 16 seems to have corrected the majority of these issues.
The list of virtual machines is now something you can reach with the tab key. Up and down arrow will move to the different machines and a context menu on each machine available with Shift+F10 or the computer’s application shortcut key brings up all the options you’d expect for power, snapshots and more.
In addition, the menubar in the program now reads correctly with multiple screen readers. You can press Alt and hear that the top menu has gained focus and expected behavior with keyboard and screen reading works.
There is still at least one quirk I’ve encountered when using any menus in the program. When you are using the down arrow to move through a list of items on a menu, up arrow does not seem to move in reverse. For example, in the context menu for a virtual machine, there is a list of devices you can make available to the virtual machine. If you move down past one of these devices, you have to arrow down through all the menu choices to get back to what you skipped.
Overall in a couple days of using VMWare Workstation 16, I’ve had success. As I mentioned in my original post here, this is not a free option but with these changes it is one I’m going to be putting back into my virtual machine toolbox.
On the Mac side, VMWare has released Fusion 12. This is a must if you are going to run Apple’s newest update for the Mac OS.
I also believe this is new but there is now an option for a free personal license to use Fusion on the Mac. The license supports the typical non-commercial uses, such as education, personal use, and more. Take note though, signing up for the license requires completion of a captcha challenge that has no audio option. So far VMWare has not responded to a tweet asking about this.
If you do try Fusion on the Mac, I did post about how I resolved the Capslock conflict between VoiceOver and Windows screen readers. My work and personal interests require me to use both Windows and Mac daily so I find this to be a very viable option.
Comments