Share via

Dictation stops working and gets stuck on "initializing"

Anonymous
2021-07-07T11:59:30+00:00

The speech-to-text dictation in Windows 10 (launched by holding Windows logo key and pressing H)

stops listening after about 10 seconds. After a few minutes, it gets stuck on "initializing" forever. This also happens if the user uses the keyboard for editing the dictated text. The only way to get the dictation working again is to kill "Microsoft Text Input Application" in the task manager (end task) and then restart dictation again.

  • To easily reproduce this problem: use dictation, let it stop and start listening several times. Then it will get stuck on "initializing".

I have reported this problem on the Windows Feedback Hub, but Microsoft has still not fixed this problem. It happens on different computers, even after a new Windows 10 install. I've seen plenty of reports from other people experiencing the same problem.

There is no faulty hardware, no corrupted system files (sfc /scannow reports no integrity violations), no disk errors, no faulty memory modules - and so on.

PLEASE FIX THIS BUG MICROSOFT.

It would be nice to use dictation for more than a few minutes at a time.

(Note I could only categorise this topic under "Ease of access", because there is no other category for this problem.)

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Accessibility

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

26 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-09-20T10:17:35+00:00

    When dictation stops working, here's how to restart it without having to reboot Windows:

    Open Task Manager by right-clicking on an empty area on the bottom bar in Windows, then left-click Task Manager, (click "more details").

    On "Background processes", right-click on "Microsoft Text Input Application", then left-click "End task".

    You can open dictation again. Easiest way is by holding down the Windows logo key and pressing "H".

    Feel free to complain about this problem on the Feedback Hub in Windows 10. We might be lucky and Microsoft takes notice and actually fixes the problem!

    179 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-09-17T17:47:00+00:00

    This is a real problem for me too, as I broke my wrist last summer. Please fix!!!

    60 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-09-20T01:06:07+00:00

    Same - Windows 10 - 20H2. Dictation will work once or twice then get stuck in "Initializing..." until a reboot.

    30 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-09-18T10:47:53+00:00

    Is there a way of reporting bugs to Microsoft?

    Please someone reply.

    16 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-09-20T17:51:34+00:00

    This does work for me for a while and then I have to end task again. I will see about complaining in the Feed Hub in Windows 10?

    9 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments