Voiceover coming on automatically at the log-in screen

By rachel, 6 January, 2022

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi. Wondering if anyone can help me out, as a new user of the Mac. I've configured Voiceover on my Mac book air to come on automatically at the log-in screen, but simply checking the Voiceover option within accessibility of users and groups hasn't done the job. I read somewhere that turning off file vault (the disk encryption) would fix the problem. Has anyone else found this to be true? Bearing in mind the crucial role file vault plays in computer security, surely this needs to be left on? Do i just need to accept that the Mac book air diesn't have the capability to provide spoken feedback until after log-in?

I will also add that so far my attempts to log in without Voiceover have failed. I turn the Mac on, wait about 30 seconds, hit enter, no speech. It's the same result if i press enter both before and after typing my password.

Sorry for the long post, but any help/clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Options

Comments

By rachel on Friday, January 28, 2022 - 16:50

Just to confirm exactly what's happening on my machine (Mac book air): with file vault off, Voiceover comes on normally at log-in. With file vault on, i have no Voiceover at log-in, and when i try to log in without it, it doesn't even come on after i've typed the passwordand then hit enter. I'm very reluctant to leave file vault switched off, but doing so seems to be the only way to get the spoken feedback i need when logging in. Am i taking a big risk by disabling fire vault?

By Paul Martin on Friday, January 28, 2022 - 16:50

You can have speech when first starting with FileVault turned on, but it's not full Voiceover for sure. It's actually these days pre-recorded Alex clips of phrases.
When you've FileVault enabled, use command F5 when the machine first starts up after hearing the chime. You should then hear "Voiceover on. User name".
An important note here is that the window as you know it actually doesn't appear at that point, but it's rather a simple interface where you must enter the name and password manually. It also shows up much quicker than 30 seconds, so no need to wait that long to start trying with command F5.

By rachel on Friday, January 28, 2022 - 16:50

Thanks paul. I’ve turned file vault back on (switching it off doesn’t seem the wisest workaround in my view, even though doing so clearly worked). Maybe i’ve been waiting too long after the chime. Old habits as a result of using windows obviously haven’t completely left me yet lol.