Running NVDA from an U3 Drive

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to get rid of this crappy u3 launchpad and then take advantage of the cd drive partition to insure that  NVDA (or anything else) could start up automagically on every computer. Since the U3 launchpad is quite unpractical (IMHO) with a screen reader, there's no need to keep it !

This technique consists in removing the default U3 launchpad and to replace it by another launcher which will give you more control on what file which will be executed when introducing the USB key in the computer. The installer will thus erase the content of the cd drive partition and then write an iso file containing the new data on it, which consist in an exe file and an autorun.inf file. The exe file is the launcher which will allow you to specify the program to be launched and the inf file will of course make sure the cd drive partition will start automatically the launcher, exactly like a normal CD would do.

The nice part of this is that the launcher will create an INI file on the second (writable) partition of your U3 drive, containing the full path to the program file to run upon insertion, thus allowing you to change the launched program's path when you want to, without having to touch the cd drive partition! It rocks isn't it? :-)

However, the big thanks must go to  the SmithTech website fro which the method has been taken as well as the application we will use. I've only tried to simplifiy the precedure for screen readers users like me.

Disclaimer

Although this procedure has been tested and worked successfully on several U3 drives (Kingston Datatraveler, sandisk Cruzer and one from memorex), this method erase the content of the cd drive partition to replace it by something else. if things go wrong during the process, it could make your u3 drive unusable. However, in such case, you may try to grab an utility from your u3 manufacturer website which should hopefully restore those u3 stuff back. I cannot been held responsible if you fry your drive, you have been warned! but, if everything is done correctly, I think there's no need to worry too much. :-)

Installation

Jaws for windows 8.0 has been used for this article (sory for NVDA users but i'm not still at home with this object navigation thing since the jaws cursor will be needed.

  1. First,  download this file. It contains all the needed stuff.
  2. Insert your U3 drive in the computer and hold down the shift key to prevent the autorun of the launchpad
  3. Run the file you have just downloaded and wait a few seconds since the installer is looking for your u3 drive.
  4. Then, you will be presented with a EULA dialog box. Press JawsKey + - (minus) to route your JAWS cursor to the pc cursor and scroll down to the bottom of your screen with your arrow keys. You'll find to usual checkboxes to accept or refuse the license aggreement. Left-click on accept and arrow to the right bottom corner of the screen to activate the "next" button with a left mouse click.
  5. The next screen contains some warnings that you may read using your jaws cursor. Jaws should hopefully read them automatically but among other stuff, you ARE WARNED NOT to eject your u3 drive until the process has been entirely completed. Just left-click on the "next" button at the bottom of the screen, as we've done before.
  6. The next screen is the backup step. The program is going to make a zipped and passworded back up of the data stored on the writable partitions of your u3 drive. Actually, your cursor should be placed on the field where the password must be typed. Type a password (I think it must contains 5 chars minimum). Press the tab key and confirm this password in the second field. You can optionnally hit the "browse" button to search for a folder to save your backup file in but it is saved in "my documents" by default and its name should start with backup folowed by a bunch of numbers. When everything has been set properly, you can now route your jaws to pc and left-click on the "next" button.
  7. From that point, just sit back and wait, the process is running and you may hear the percentage announced by jaws. The installation is divided in two steps : the backup and the rewriting of the cd drive partition. The process could take a while if you have much things to back up on the writable partition of the u3 drive.
  8. If everything is OK, you should be presented with a screen asking you to remove the U3 drive from the USB port and re-insert it again for the changes to take effect ! Just route your jaws to pc again, click on the "done" button a the bottom of the screen and remove and reinsert the key.

Configuration

If NVDA is not ALREADY installed on the writable partition of the u3 drive, just pick a portable zipped version from download page and unzip it now using the usual methods.

  1. If the windows dialog box has popped up asking you what you want to do with the drive, choose "open folder", otherwise locate the writable partition by going to "my computer" and finding the correct removable disk.
  2. When NVDA has been correctly copied on the writable partition, just go back to "my computer" and find an item which should be named "AutoLauncher4U3". right-click on it (or press the application key" and choose "open".
  3. Then, hit enter on the file named autolauncher4u3.exe.
  4. A dialog box appears. Tab to the "Browse" button and locate NVDA.exe on the writable partition of the U3 drive in the folder where you have copied your NVDA related files and click "open".
  5. The next field is for optionnal command line parameters. NVDA supports command line stuff so enter someting if needed.
  6. Finally, tab to the "save settigns" button and click on it.
  7. Hit Alt+F4 and voila, your NVDA should start automatically when you will re-insert the key as if it was on a cd except that you can now modify and save your settings at any time since NVDA is placed on a writable disk !

if for some reasons you need to change the program's path, just enter again on the autolauncher4u3 program and modify it the way we've done before.

I hope you'll find this article usefull and if you have some comments, please do not hesitate to  contact me. Also, if there're some typo mistakes, I do apologise I'm French and English is not my native language. Feel free to edit this page to add / modify things, but please respect this work and those who are reading it.

Last but not least, thanks a whole bunch to the NVDA team who is developping a fantastic screen reader for us. Just Keep on the great work guys !

 RazorbacK / Sof