A JAWS user encounters an error display indicating that the Accessibility Driver is not properly installed after updating to Windows 11 to 24H2. Full error text below:
A problem with the Freedom Scientific video driver component has been identified after Windows 11 is updated to 24H2 which causes the Accessibility Driver to fail. This is due to planned retirement by Microsoft of the Accessibility Driver technology.
Please carry out the steps below if your Windows 11 is not yet updated to 24H2. Some background information has also been provided by Freedom Scientific as technical explanation.
Most apps created in the last several years were developed with accessibility in mind and do a good job of providing the information that JAWS requests. For older apps however, or those not written with any thought about accessibility, JAWS gathers information as it’s written to the screen. This can often make the difference between an app being usable or being completely inaccessible.
Historically, JAWS has used the Accessibility driver to gather this information, which was the default up through Windows 10. Starting with Windows 11, JAWS uses a newer technique for capturing data as it’s written to the screen. In most cases, this provides equivalent information to that from the Accessibility driver, but there have been a small number of situations where the accessibility driver provided essential information which the new technique did not. In those cases, we suggested that users go back to using the accessibility driver so they could get their work done,, but also did our best to ensure that the newer technique for gathering data was fixed to handle any problematic cases.
With the introduction of Windows 11 24H2, Microsoft has removed support for Accessibility driver technology. This means it can no longer be used in situations where the new data gathering technique is insufficient. If you only use mainstream applications, it’s highly unlikely you will be impacted. But if you use workplace specific or other specialized apps, before upgrading to Windows 11 24H2, it’s worth checking to see if you’re using the Accessibility Driver, and if you are, try disabling it to make sure things continue to work as expected.