Windows 10: Change System Locale in Windows 10

How to: Change System Locale in Windows 10

How to Change System Locale in Windows 10


The system locale controls the language used when displaying text on programs that do not support Unicode.

Changing the system locale will not affect the language in menus and dialog boxes for Windows or other programs that do use Unicode.

This setting has three main purposes:

• Specifies the default ANSI, OEM, MAC, and EBCDIC code pages to use for non-Unicode programs.
• Specifies some of the font linking preferences for CJK fonts and for legacy bitmap fonts.
• Specifies application behavior when developers incorrectly use this setting rather than the DEFAULT USER LOCALE.

See also:

• SystemLocale - Windows 10 hardware dev
• SystemLocale | Microsoft Docs
• System Locale - Globalization | Microsoft Docs
• INFO: The Difference Between the System Locale and the User Locale | Microsoft Support

This tutorial will show you how to change the system locale language used for non-Unicode programs in Windows 10.

*note You must be signed in as an administrator to change the system locale.



Here's How:

1. Do step 2 (Control Panel) or step 3 (Settings) for how you would like to open administrative language settings.


2. Open the step 4 below.

3. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Time & Language icon.
A) Click/tap on Language on the left side, click/tap on the Administrative language settings link on the right side under Related settings, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)




4. Click/tap on the Administrative tab, and click/tap on the Change system locale button. (see screenshot below)



5. Select the language in the drop menu you want for the system locale, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

*note If wanted, you can check the BETA: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support box.



6. When ready, click/tap on the Restart now button to restart the computer to apply. (see screenshot below)

*Warning This will restart the computer immediately. Be sure to save and close everything first.



7. The language you selected to be used for the system locale will also be automatically added as a language in Windows 10. (see screenshots below)






That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Add a Language in Windows 10
• How to See Current System Locale in Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Issue with changing system locale...

Hello Andrew,

We regret for the inconvenience. Let me assist you further from here

I suggest you to check if the same issue occur when logged in through a different Local administrator user account.

Follow the steps:

• Assuming that you are already logged on to your user account in Windows 10, click the Start button.
• From the Start menu, click your name from the top of the left pane.
• From the displayed options click Sign out.
  
• From the login screen, click to the different user account you want to switch to.

However, if you do not have a separate user account, I suggest you to create another administrator user account by referring to the Microsoft article here: Set
up accounts.

Write to us with the updated status for us to be able to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

How Do I Change My System Locale?

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I would require some more information to assist you better.

• What was the base language of the previous operating system?

Since you had kept the system locale as English before the upgrade you might now not be able to change the locale now in Windows 10. You have to install Japanese language pack and then you would be able to change the system locale.

I would suggest you to refer to the article provided by Andre De costa:

Automatic Language change when upgrading to windows 10

Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.

Thank you.

 

Language for non-Unicode programs > Change System Locale

Thanks for your time and troubles taken, Karthicka_R.

Went through the steps 1 to 5 and then 7.

After restarting, checked; still, Tamil is not found in the list of languages for 'Change System Locale'.

(In fact, I had done this before raising this query. On reading your reply, I removed Tamil and went through the steps as listed above in my reply. Since the language pack was already installed, I didn't have to do the step-5; the screen also indicated that
the language pack is already there.)

Regards

Thiruvelan

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

As you may already know, Windows 10 (as well as Windows 8) allow you to log in with a valid Microsoft account, instead of creating a local account that only works on your machine. However, you may prefer to keep a local account for privacy reasons. If you do, though, some Windows 10 features—like Cortana—may not work. Despite the default behavior, the Windows 10 Store is not one of them. You can still log in to your Microsoft account for just the Store without switching to a full Microsoft account. The process, however, is not terribly obvious. To do so, follow these steps:

• Launch the Store from your Start menu.
• Click the user icon next to the search box.
• Click “Sign-in” from the menu that appears.
• Choose “Microsoft account” and log in like normal.
• When the “Make it yours” box appears do not enter your password. Instead, click “Sign in to just this app instead.”

from Lifehacker