Suddenly VA will not launch. Win10. Any ideas?

[Tazling]

I had great fun getting VA configured and working with a favourite SteamVR game.  Worked so well, it was like magic, suddenly I could control my game with no keyboard.  So I was really thrilled and this evening was getting back to the project, wanted to add more commands for other games.

But to my horror, VA won't launch any more.  If I dbl-click the desktop icon, I get a brief "blue circle" timer, then nothing.  I try "open" from the context menu and nothing.  Any idea what could be interfering with it?  In the past I have been able to launch it at any time, with mic or no mic attached, with or without Steam... I could review my profile, edit, do pretty much everything.  I'd really like to understand why it suddenly stopped working and what I have to fix it.

[Pfeil]

Does this still occur after rebooting your computer (using the "Restart" option; not by shutting down and powering back on)?

Is there a "VoiceAttackFault.txt" file in the installation directory?

Are you using any plugins?

If you hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys on your keyboard immediately after double-clicking the shortcut, do any windows appear?

[Tazling]

I'm gonna reply to my own question, in case someone else has this same problem.

Somehow (I didn't do it!) Voice Recognition got turned off in Win10.  I don't know what would make it turn itself off -- but when I sanity-checked just now, Windows' native voice recognition feature was disabled.  It has been stable and enabled through several reboots without trouble, so I don't know why it has mysteriously turned itself off, but now I know where to look when VA stops working :-)

Turning Windows Voice Recog back on in Settings restores VA functionality.

[Tazling]

Does this still occur after rebooting your computer (using the "Restart" option; not by shutting down and powering back on)?

Is there a "VoiceAttackFault.txt" file in the installation directory?

Are you using any plugins?

If you hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys on your keyboard immediately after double-clicking the shortcut, do any windows appear?

Thanks Pfeil -- wow, what a lightning-quick response!  the problem was at once simpler, and more mysterious, than your suggestions (though I'll bookmark this thread so I can remember them as well).  I'm back in business.

[Pfeil]

Turning Windows Voice Recog back on in Settings restores VA functionality.

Which setting are you referring to, specifically?