1208. Narrator won't turn off

See 9/12/2024 FIX at end.

 Since Windows 7 a few users get stuck with the Narrator never turning off (disabled) entirely only to have it start yelling every time you reboot. Yes, there is a keyboard shortcut to stop it for your session, but some folks just can't end it permanently.

To fix this, if you choose to really never use it again, see this. You want to do option #2 to rename narrator.exe which you don't have permission to do. Option 2 will give you permission to the Trusted one, except, instead of "untick" permissions at the end, you tick (check) all permissions for your user that corresponds to your PC name and which you set up before this point. Don't forget to restart your PC upon completing the steps. btw, Option 1 WON'T work becacause you do NOT have permissions to simply rename it or delete it.

This worked only until Microsoft put more update on!!!!

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9/12/2024: Bing AI gave me this Registry hack to fix this problem. It is now implemented and we are testing. See below for the AI text provided:

Manipulating the Windows Registry can potentially cause system issues if not done correctly. Ensure that you back up your registry before making any changes. To disable Narrator through a registry fix, follow these steps:


Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Right-click on Image File Execution Options, select New then Key. Name the new key Narrator.exe.
Select the Narrator.exe key, then right-click in the right-hand pane and select New then String Value.
Name the new string value Debugger.
Double-click on Debugger and set its value data to taskkill.exe. Click OK.


This registry edit creates a fake debugger for Narrator.exe that effectively kills the process whenever it tries to start, preventing it from launching. 

On 9/12/2024 we restarted Windows 11 and it is OFF. Time will now tell. If no update, it continues to work in killing the task and keeping Narrator OFF.