Windows dictation stuck on initializing (Win + H)

Hi,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Community.

Happy New Year!

I appreciate the efforts taken by you in troubleshooting this issue.

1. Are you aware of any changes made to the PC prior to this issue?

2. Do you have the latest updates installed on the PC?

Using Windows dictation feature converts spoken words into text on your PC. It's possible that the feature turns off automatically when it doesn't hear anything.

Let us follow these methods one by one to check if that helps.

Method A: Make sure that you have the latest version of Windows installed on your device. To check this, open the Settings screen, select System > About. Install the latest update if you are prompted to. ‘Keep the PC up to date’

Note: Dictation is available in US English only. To use it, your PC needs to be connected to the internet. To dictate in other languages, see Use speech recognition.

Method B: Your keyboard language should match the language of your Windows. To check this, open the Settings screen, click Time and Language > Region & Language.

To isolate the issue, create a local user account. Follow the steps in ‘Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10’ article. Once done, you can try using the Windows dictation from that account.

‘Use dictation to talk instead of type on your PC’

Let us know how it goes.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Srimadhwa B

Microsoft Community-Moderator

None of this works. Windows+H brings up pic and says Initialing...forever.

Hi John_380,

Thanks for the reply and appreciate your efforts to work on this issue.

1. Are you aware of any changes made to the PC prior to this issue?
2. Does the issue occur in a Local account or a Microsoft account?

Ensure that the 'Online Speech Recognition' option is enabled in the Settings screen to check if that helps. Open the Settings screen, click on Privacy and click on Speech.

‘Use dictation to talk instead of type on your PC’.

There's a wizard to help you get started. Just plug in your microphone, and then, in the search box on the taskbar, type Speech Recognition, and select Windows Speech Recognition.

Note: Dictation is available in US English only. To use it, your PC needs to be connected to the internet. To dictate in other languages, see Use speech recognition.

Hope this helps and let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Srimadhwa B

Microsoft Community-Moderator

This does not work and my laptop is up to date.  I tried it on 2 other laptops that are up to date and it still doesn't work on Windows 10.  For the original user I would say try using the Speech Recognition feature on the laptop.   Press Windows + Ctrl + S and give it a try.  However the dictation feature was working well when it was working. 

It is working now for some reason. My computer is kept up to date on updates and drivers. I don't know what changed other than a new update win10. This is the second or third time my computer has done this for no apparent reason.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply and appreciate your efforts to work on this issue.

We are glad to hear that the PC is working as it should and I thank you for providing the information about it, since it might help other users with similar issues.  Please feel free to contact us, in case you face any other Windows issues in future.

Regards,

Srimadhwa B

Microsoft Community-Moderator