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YazSes on Windows — install & first-run guide

Version: Applies to the current YazSes release (v2.x). Install the latest with pipx install yazses.

Developer preview. Windows builds are unsigned. Windows SmartScreen warns on first launch; the steps below show how to bypass it safely. Code signing lands before public beta.

Requirements

  • Windows 10 21H2 or later, 64-bit (Windows 11 also fine)
  • ~250 MB free disk for the app + the Whisper model on first download
  • A microphone

Install

  1. Download YazSes-<version>-windows-x64.exe from the Releases page.
  2. Double-click the installer.
  3. SmartScreen warning: Windows shows "Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting." Click More info → Run anyway. You only need to do this once per version.
  4. The installer puts YazSes into your user folder (%USERPROFILE%\YazSes) so you don't need administrator rights. Pick the optional tasks:
  5. Start YazSes automatically when I sign in — enables the autostart toggle (recommended).
  6. Create a desktop shortcut — off by default; tick if you want one.
  7. Click Install, then Finish (leave the "Launch YazSes now" box checked).

First run

YazSes's tray icon appears in the system tray (next to the clock). The default hotkey is Right Ctrl — hold it anywhere on the desktop, speak, release, and the transcribed text appears in whatever window is focused.

Why not Right Alt? On many international keyboards, Right Alt acts as AltGr — it's used to type @, €, {, }, [, ], \, ~, etc. Hijacking it for dictation would break normal typing. Right Ctrl is rarely used for typing, so it's the safer default. You can change this in %APPDATA%\yazses\config.toml:

[hotkey]
# "auto" → Right Ctrl on Windows. Other options: "right_alt", "right_shift",
# "left_alt", "space", "right_meta", ...
key = "auto"
hold_threshold_ms = 500

[stt]
model = "tiny.en"   # try "base.en" for better accuracy at the cost of CPU

The first transcription downloads the Whisper model (~80 MB for tiny.en) into %LOCALAPPDATA%\huggingface\hub\. Subsequent dictations are fully offline.

Microphone access

The first time YazSes records, Windows shows a privacy prompt. Allow microphone access for Desktop apps. If you missed the prompt or accidentally denied it, re-enable in:

Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → "Let desktop apps access your microphone"

(or run start ms-settings:privacy-microphone.)

Verify with the CLI

The installer also exposes the CLI:

& "$env:USERPROFILE\YazSes\YazSes.exe" --cli doctor
& "$env:USERPROFILE\YazSes\YazSes.exe" --cli status

Add $env:USERPROFILE\YazSes to your PATH if you want plain YazSes to work in any shell.

Troubleshooting

"My antivirus flagged YazSes." These builds are unsigned, which trips conservative AV heuristics — especially because the daemon installs a low-level keyboard hook. Either build from source (scripts/build-windows.ps1) or wait for signed builds (planned). The artifacts uploaded by the build CI run are reproducible from this repo.

"The hotkey doesn't fire." Some keyboard remappers (e.g. PowerToys Keyboard Manager, AutoHotkey scripts) intercept low-level hooks before YazSes. Try a different key in config.toml, or temporarily disable those remappers.

"YazSes keeps re-prompting for microphone access." Windows treats unsigned apps as new identities each time their hash changes. After every update you may need to re-allow.

"Tray icon is missing." Windows may be hiding it under the chevron (^) at the left of the tray. Drag it out, or right-click the taskbar → Taskbar settings → Other system tray icons → flip on.

Uninstall

Use Settings → Apps → Installed apps → YazSes → Uninstall, or run the uninstaller from %USERPROFILE%\YazSes\unins000.exe. The uninstaller also removes the autostart registry entry.

To clear user data (config, logs, model cache) after uninstalling, also run:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:APPDATA\yazses"
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\yazses"