Since writing about using virtual machines with a screen reader, I’ve expanded my personal computing environment to include more Macintosh use. As a result, I wanted to offer a few comments on using VMWare Fusion on the Mac.
Bill Holton’s excellent article on running Windows on a Mac was an invaluable start for me here. From that article my biggest issue to resolve was how to address use of the Caps Lock key.
I took a different approach and opted to solve the conflict between multiple screen readers and the Caps Lock key along with that key apparently not getting passed on to Windows in a virtual machine through VMWare Fusion directly. This was easier than I expected at the start.
In Fusion’s preferences, there is a keyboard option. Within that area are options for remapping keys. I chose to remap a different key on my keyboard to the Caps Lock key. While I was at it, I assigned a keyboard combination to what Fusion calls Menu. This is the equivalent of pressing the Context or Application key for right click menus on a keyboard.
These key assignments work just fine. You can press and hold the key you’ve reassigned to be the Caps Lock key and add the necessary Windows screen reader key commands, such as t for window title.
I’m successfully using JAWS, NVDA and Narrator on Windows running under VMWare Fusion. Since I’m running on a MacBook Pro, I configure the screen readers to use their laptop keyboard layouts. I also use the option known as Fusion in VMWare. This causes the open windows from both the Mac and Windows to appear as separate windows within the Mac operating system. I find it works great with the Windows screen readers kicking in just fine when I switch to a Windows app.
Bill’s article also talked about using Boot Camp. I have tried that, and it is also an excellent option. However, I’ve found one consistent problem with Boot Camp that stops me from using it. There is a problem with the audio drivers used in Boot Camp that causes the first syllable or so of synthesized speech to be cut off unless other audio is playing. This has happened on occasion with other audio drivers on Windows. I’ve reported this to Apple, and I hope they address this sooner than later.
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