the method-save_to_file on Windows Server 2019 raise exception _ctypes.COMError: (-2147200966, None, (None, None, None, 0, None))

[liudashang]

I'm writing a flask web which using the pyttsx3. the server's OS is win server 2019, it is a vmware virtualmachine. The virtualmachine does not have an audio card.
When I using RDP(mstsc) to connect the server, server 2019 will create a audio output device by “Remote audio playback”. I login the web by myself computer, and create a tts job. The program writing a wav file is OK.
But, when I disconnect the server, I create a tts job, the program writing a empty wav file. And the pyttsx3's debug info display:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\XXXXXX\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pyttsx3\driver.py", line 90, in _pump
    cmd[0](*cmd[1])
  File "C:\Users\XXXXXX\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pyttsx3\drivers\sapi5.py", line 69, in save_to_file
    temp_stream = self._tts.AudioOutputStream
_ctypes.COMError: (-2147200966, None, (None, None, None, 0, None))

The reason for this situation is, win server 2019 dose not have an audio output device, SpVoice AudioOutputStream Object will raise an exception.

My suggestion, change the source code pyttsx3\drivers\sapi5.py 'save_to_file'. add a 'try except' like this:

def save_to_file(self, text, filename):
    cwd = os.getcwd()
    stream = comtypes.client.CreateObject('SAPI.SPFileStream')
    stream.Open(filename, SpeechLib.SSFMCreateForWrite)
    try:
        temp_stream = self._tts.AudioOutputStream
        self._tts.AudioOutputStream = stream
        self._tts.Speak(fromUtf8(toUtf8(text)))
        self._tts.AudioOutputStream = temp_stream
    except:
        self._tts.AudioOutputStream = stream
        self._tts.Speak(fromUtf8(toUtf8(text)))
    stream.close()
    os.chdir(cwd)

[Jiangshan00001]

i have changed the code and commit to:https://github.com/Jiangshan00001/pyttsx4
you can have a try if you need:

pip install pyttsx4

import pyttsx4
engine = pyttsx4.init()
engine.save_to_file('Hello World' , 'test.wav')
engine.runAndWait()

[grydev]

My suggestion, change the source code pyttsx3\drivers\sapi5.py 'save_to_file'. add a 'try except' like this

Adding the try except works perfect on a windows virtual machine - thank you!

[willwade]

Pretty sure we’ve fixed this. Will double check.