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Display Language Won't Change

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Tuesday, November 1, 2016 9:41 PM | 1 vote

I have just completed a clean install of Windows 10 Pro and it appears the supplier has send us the English (UK) version, but we are in New Zealand and require the New Zealand-English or US-English version because the keys are in the wrong places on the keyboard (pound symbol instead of the dollar symbol, hash key instead of the @ symbol, etc).

When I go to change this as an administrator login I can change the language to English (New Zealand) but when I go to advanced it still says that the display language is still English (UK) which is unacceptable. I can't seem to find a way to change this!

Any ideas other than a reinstall with the US version because it has been deployed to dozens of computers :(

All replies (18)

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 2:20 AM ✅Answered

I gave Microsoft a call and they have shown me how to change the installed Display Language from English (United Kingdom) to English (United States). Here is my hastily written method:

Start > Settings (PC Settings in Classic Shell) > Time & Language > Region & Language

Add a language > English > English (New Zealand) > Set as Default (delete any others)

> Language - Add a language > Add a language > English (New Zealand) > delete any others

Advanced settings > Override for Windows display language > English (United States)

If you don't see English (United States) in this drop down menu then go back to Add a language (the page with the grey boxes) and add English (United States) and download any language packs it says it needs.

Advanced settings > Override for Windows display language > English (United States)

Save > Log off > Log in

*** This next part is the important part as it decides what language settings new users will get, especially important for Multi-User (MU) systems ***

Go all the way back to Advanced Settings > Apply language settings to the welcome screen, system accounts and new user accounts > Copy Settings... > tick Welcome Screen and system accounts & New user accounts > OK

Reboot machine.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 11:17 PM

Hmm, have you checked Start > Settings > Time & language > Region & language selected you language on the right click option and is Add a Keyboard what is selected? Anything in the add options to help?

Thinking the better longer term option is reload select the correct language (below the OS version option first screen from memory) at Windows install time and might save time in the long.

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 12:18 AM

I have just completed a clean install of Windows 10 Pro and it appears the supplier has send us the English (UK) version, but we are in New Zealand and require the New Zealand-English or US-English version because the keys are in the wrong places on the keyboard (pound symbol instead of the dollar symbol, hash key instead of the @ symbol, etc).

When I go to change this as an administrator login I can change the language to English (New Zealand) but when I go to advanced it still says that the display language is still English (UK) which is unacceptable. I can't seem to find a way to change this!

Any ideas other than a reinstall with the US version because it has been deployed to dozens of computers :(

Allow me to start at the beginning in case you did not install the language the right way.

1. Download and install Language ......English (New Zealand) :

Start > Settings > Time & language > Region & language > right side, under Languages, click ADD > select  English (New Zealand) > back to Languages page > left click at English (New Zealand) > click Options > click Install

2. Download and install Speech......... English (New Zealand):

Assuming you also want to use Cortana.
At the same page where English (New Zealand) is being installed, under Speech, click the Download button. 
Back to Region & language page, left side, click Speech > under Speech language, click the pointer and select English (New Zealand).

3. Back to Languages page > click at English (New Zealand) > click Set as Default > restart computer to complete the change.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 1:33 AM

Hi,

Try click the language icon which is located in bottom-right of task bar.

Then, select New Zealand in Country or region and add English (New Zealand) in Language list.

Next, set English (New Zealand) as default.

Have a try please

Sincere regards

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Thursday, November 3, 2016 8:03 PM

Hi David & Teemo, thanks for the in-depth reply.

Changing the settings under Region & Language makes the changes but when I click on Advanced > Add a language > Advanced, under the "Override for Windows display language" is says Use language list (recommended), English (United States), and English (United Kingdom). Clicking on "Apply language setting to the welcome screen..." it then says that the Windows display language is still English (United Kingdom)!

I cannot see English (New Zealand) under speech, I only see English (United States) and English (Australia), there is no option for English (New Zealand). Cortana warns me that she isn't available in my "region" (country?). English (Australia) is 99% fine for us but as a matter of policy we will wait until it is available in New Zealand as there are a few differences in our languages that can become an issue (e.g. they don't use the word "cellphone" while we don't use the word "mobile" as it has a different connotation to us).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_English#Differences_from_Australian_English

Thursday, November 3, 2016 8:19 PM

Mr Happy said: "Thinking the better longer term option is reload select the correct language (below the OS version option first screen from memory) at Windows install time and might save time in the long."

Hi Mr Happy,

Unfortunately we get two versions from Microsoft, English (United States) and English (United Kingdom). There is no English (New Zealand) version straight out of the box. If you get the English (United Kingdom) version that is the only Display Language option at installation. I have since downloaded the English (United States) version and installed it on a test machine and that too only has English (United States) as the Display Language at installation.

I guess I'm hoping that there is a registry hack that I can implement using Group Policy that will change all the machines company-wide to English (New Zealand).

Thursday, November 3, 2016 8:45 PM

Think I got this ISO from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO/ not sure what the difference is and if it would license for you. I checked does have the options I was thinking of.

Friday, November 4, 2016 12:20 AM

I cannot see English (New Zealand) under speech, I only see English (United States) and English (Australia), there is no option for English (New Zealand). Cortana warns me that she isn't available in my "region" (country?). English (Australia) is 99% fine for us but as a matter of policy we will wait until it is available in New Zealand as there are a few differences in our languages that can become an issue (e.g. they don't use the word "cellphone" while we don't use the word "mobile" as it has a different connotation to us).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_English#Differences_from_Australian_English

You are right.

I did not know English (New Zealand) is not available to download under Speech.

My apology.

Friday, November 4, 2016 3:16 AM

The drop down box is for Time and currency format, but what about Language to install? I believe that is the problem.

I see that some of the settings are located here in the Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Language\InstallLanguage

Hex codes are here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/221435

New Zealand is 1409. It still doesn't seem to make the required changes though :(

Friday, November 4, 2016 4:29 AM

Alex,

Just to be clear..........

The fact that there is no English (New Zealand) available to be downloaded in Speech does NOT mean you cannot change display language from "whatever" to English (New Zealand).
It only means you will not be able to use Cortana.

The method posted to you should be able to change your display language.

i.e.

1.Start > Settings > Time & language > Region & language > right side, under Languages, click ADD > select  English (New Zealand) > back to Languages page > left click at English (New Zealand) > click Options > click Install.

2. Back to Languages page > click at English (New Zealand) > click Set as Default > restart computer to complete the change.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 12:22 AM

Hi David,

Doing as you say doesn't change the Display Language, just the Input Language, Format and Location. See my original screenshot for the situation. It seems to be a bug in Windows 10. If you install using the Display Language as English (United Kingdom) it cannot be changed. The USB sticks that come with Windows 10 installed on them are the English (United Kingdom) version. Every time a major patch comes out (e.g. the Anniversary Edition) we find that the Input Language, Format and Location has reset back to English (United Kingdom) and the keys on the keyboard are in the wrong place (@ and # becomes " and £), which stuffs up the people who use these characters in their passwords, making them think that they don't know their password.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 12:45 AM

I don't know why you have this issue, and I don't think I can help you any further.

Just to show you I was not giving you a wild goose chase..........

My laptop display language was English (United States). A mistake when I first setup the computer.

I have since changed it to English (Canada). That is where I am.
It is now my display language.

I am going to show you how I change the display language to Chinese Traditional using exactly the instructions I gave you...................

I have to restart to complete the change.

Will post back to show you my display language is changed to Chinese.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 1:36 AM

Sorry for the delay.

Ran into internet connection.

Here is the Display Language Change : Before and After.

Before : File Explorer .....English (Canada)

After : File Explorer  ......Chinese

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 2:22 AM

You would have been fine because your original install Display Language was English (United States). Mine was English (United Kingdom) and I had no other options to change out of the box.

Sunday, November 25, 2018 7:55 PM

Checking the two checkboxes fixed the problem on my PC after the restart...

Saturday, March 23, 2019 9:26 AM

Thanks a lot for your reply, this steps helps me to solve mine another problem.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019 7:57 AM

Nothing works for me I have Win 10 PRO build 1903 I had to edit register in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\MUI\Settings PreferredUILanguages change value to appropriate language sk-SK in my case for Slovakia.

Monday, August 5, 2019 5:23 PM

I found the solutions to this. You don't need to do anything on PS script or changing registry.

What you need to do is as below.

1. Download the Windows Server 2016 Multi-language pack from Microsoft VL page
2. Save the file in local folder (such as C:\temp)
3. Extract the language pack (x64fre_Server_en-gb_lp.cab) and save in local folder (such as C:\temp)
4. Run command as below

dism /online /add-package /packagepath:C:\temp\x64fre_Server_en-gb_lp.cab

  1. Once "the operation completed successfully" appear, restart the server
  2. Go to Control Panel > Language > Click "Option" next to English UK
  3. Click "Make this the primary language"
  4. Click "Log off now"
  5. Go to Control Panel > Region
  6. Go to "Administrate" tab > Click "Copy Settings" and  tick both "Welcome screen and system accounts" and "New user accounts" and click "OK"
  7. Restart server and check the "Display language" and others are correctly set to English UK