Looking for easy ways to enable or disable Online speech recognition in Windows 10?
If you are not in the mood or are physically unable to control your computer with a keyboard or mouse, voice commands are a great way to operate it.
Window’s Speech Recognition feature was originally created to make it easier for individuals with disabilities to use their operating system, but thanks to the convenience that it offers, almost every user uses it now and then.
Windows allows its users to enable or disable this feature according to their preferences and if you are reading this right now, it is fair to assume that you want to perform one of these functions.
Lucky for you, we have listed some of the easiest ways of enabling/disabling the Online speech recognition feature in Windows 10 below. All the methods are easy to perform, so even if this is your first time performing an administrative-level task, you will do just fine.
Let’s get started.
1. Use the Settings App.
One of the easiest ways to enable or disable Online speech recognition in Windows 10 is by modifying Windows settings according to your preferences using the Settings application.
All that you need to do is turn on or off the Online speech recognition option.
Here is how you can do that:
- Launch Settings and select Privacy from the list of options available.
- Choose Speech from the left panel and in the right pane, locate the Online speech recognition option.
- If you want to enable the option, turn the toggle on. In case you want to disable it, turn the toggle off.
That’s it. This should enable/disable the feature without any issues.
2. Use Windows Registry.
Windows Registry is a database that stores information about Windows programs and features. The information in Windows Registry is stored in the form of keys, and advanced users modify these keys to customize the operating system according to their preferences.
In this method, we would be doing modifying the Online speech recognition key to enable/disable the feature.
Here is what you need to do:
- Open a Run dialogue box by pressing Windows + R keys simultaneously.
- Type ‘regedit’ in the text field of the dialogue box and hit Enter. Doing so will launch Windows Registry on your PC.
- Inside the Registry Editor, navigate to the location mentioned below.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Speech_OneCore\Settings\OnlineSpeechPrivacy
- Double-click on the OnlineSpeechPrivacy and in the right pane, right-click anywhere.
- Select the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option and rename this value as HasAccepted.
- Now double-click on the newly created value and under Value data, type 1 if you want to enable the feature. If you want to disable it, then type 0 under Value data.
Hopefully, doing so will disable/enable the feature under consideration without any issues.
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CleanMyPC makes it easy for you to fully protect your computer. Just install it, run a scan, and you’re done!
4. Make Changes During Windows Setup.
For the feature to be enabled or disabled when installing Windows, you must alter the privacy settings of the device while the installation is underway.
This is a one time process, but you can change the settings later on by following the methods we have mentioned above.
Here is what you need to do:
- Click on the Choose privacy settings for your device option.
- In the new window, locate the Online speech recognition option and if you want to enable the feature, turn the toggle on. In case you want to disable it, turn the toggle off.
That’s it.
If you want to modify the settings in the future, you can follow the other methods mentioned in this guide to enable or disable the Online speech recognition feature in Windows 10.
5. Use Group Policy Editor.
This method is for the administrators who want to restrict standard users from disabling the Online speech recognition feature in Windows 10.
Like Windows Registry, Group Policy Editor also allows the users to control the working environment of their operating system better. Information in the Group Policy Editor is saved in the form of policies, and in this method, we will be modifying the Speech Recognition policy to make the desired changes.
Here is what you need to do:
- Press Windows + R keys simultaneously to open a Run dialogue box.
- Type ‘gpedit.msc’ in the text field of the dialogue box and hit Enter. Doing so will launch Group Policy Editor.
- In the newly launched window, navigate to the location mentioned below.
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Regional and Language Options.
- Locate Allow users to enable online speech recognition services in the right pane and double-click on it.
- Select Disabled and hit Apply to save the changes.
This should disable the feature under discussion on your operating system. If in the future you want to enable this feature, simply follow the steps mentioned above again and in the 5th step, select Enabled.
This brings us to the end of our guide on ways to enable/disable Online Speech Recognition in Windows 10. We tried walking you through all the steps in detail and hope that one of the methods mentioned above did the trick for you. In case you still have any confusion about the methods, please let us know in the comment section below!
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