NVDA- Creating a Portable Copy

In this 6 minute video I show you how to create a portable copy of NVDA (the free screen reader) on a USB stick- although you can use an SD card or a CD if you want.

Portable copies of NVDA are invaluable to people with visual impairments who use more than one computer.

The whole process only takes about 10 minutes and for most of that you just need to sit and wait whilst the computer "does it's thing."

The video comes with a full set of subtitles but if you want to read a full transcript instead, please read them below;

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to create a portable copy of NVDA.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

A portable version of NVDA is a copy of the screen reader that is on a USB stick, an SD card or even a CD so that it is ready to use on any Windows laptop or desktop.

It is the perfect option for an NVDA user who frequently uses more than one computer.

You can even create a portable copy that retains all your own personalised settings.

In this video I will be using a USB stick, but as I said you might want to use a CD or a SD card instead.

Just make sure that whatever you use will work on the computers that you use!

Now, I have just completed a trial run of creating a portable copy and by my reckoning it took about 4 -5 minutes to complete and it downloaded a set of files that were about 100MB in total- which is small by today’s standards.

So make sure that you have more than 100MB of free space on your USB stick, SD card or CD.

Another recommendation would be to create a new folder in which to store the portable copy in- this is because it downloads well over a dozen files and folders and so if you create a folder to store it in, it will make things neater and easier in the long run!

So let’s dive right in and get NVDA started.

Your copy might start as soon as you log onto your PC but mine is set to start manually.

So to start mine, I press the Windows Key and D to focus on the desktop.

Now press the N key once and then press the Enter key.

With NVDA started press the NVDA key (mine is the insert key) and the n key together.

The NVDA menu is displayed.

Press the down arrow to get to the tools menu and then press the right arrow to open up the sub menu.

Press the down arrow 5 times until “create portable copy” is selected.

Now we need to select where the portable copy will be created.

At this point, we should check that we have inserted our SD card, USB stick or CD ROM into our machine.

I am using a USB stick.

I press the TAB key once in order to focus on the browse button and then I press the space bar to open it.

I then press the TAB key until I am in the folder view. NVDA will say “select portable directory.”

And then I select the USB stick using my up and down arrows and press enter.

I want it to install in a specific “NVDA” folder on my USB stick and so I press my right arrow a few times until NVDA says “blank”. Now I typed in “NVDA” and press enter.

Remember as I said earlier, because there are so many files that are created when the portable copy is made, it is best to create a folder to keep them in.

It will take about 4-5 minutes for a portable copy to be created.

When it is finished, your portable copy of NVDA will be ready to use on any Windows computer that you use.

To double check that my portable copy is working, I will just test run it.

To open up my USB stick I press the TAB button until NVDA says “running applications”. I then press my right arrow to select the “file explorer.”

Once open I press the TAB button until NVDA says “tree view” and I press “e” as my USB stick is called “ESD”.

I press the TAB key until NVDA says “items view list”and then press “n” until the NVDA folder is selected, then I press the spacebar.”

To start your portable copy of NVDA press “n” until NVDA says “nvda service.”

Now press the spacebar and the enter key your portable copy should load.

And that is the end of this video about creating a portable copy of NVDA.

If you have any questions or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Do you use a portable copy of NVDA? How useful do you find it?

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript