Is there a legitimate way to change language to English on win 7 home?

[wearetheborg]

The laptop came with an european version of win 7 premium, and unfortunately there was no option for choosing language during first startup.

Is there a legitimate way to change language to english?

 

[brianzion]

hi and welcome to the forums have a read of this link while i do some research for you have not come across this prob before myself
Add a Language Pack Online

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744360(WS.10).aspx

 

[wearetheborg]

hi and welcome to the forums have a read of this link while i do some research for you have not come across this prob before myself
Add a Language Pack Online

Languages and International Servicing Command-Line Options

Thanks.. Dism seems to be only able to change languages in an offline image.

Anyone know where I can find legal language packs? The second link says I can add a language pack using
Dism /online /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\test\LangPacks\lp.cab

 

[brianzion]

hi and welcome to the forums have a read of this link while i do some research for you have not come across this prob before myself
Add a Language Pack Online

Languages and International Servicing Command-Line Options

Thanks.. Dism seems to be only able to change languages in an offline image.

Anyone know where I can find legal language packs? The second link says I can add a language pack using
Dism /online /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\test\LangPacks\lp.cab

keep looking in microsoft with that last link

 

[brianzion]

Download languages for Windows - Microsoft Windows

found this but i don't think its for your version of windows 7?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/ee461121.aspx#Completelanguagepacks any help?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744369(WS.10).aspx

 

[gregrocker]

There are mixed reports on this. As soon as we advise that Product Keys are supposed to be language-specific, someone will report they have reinstalled another language in the same version and activated with their Product Key. This may be due to variations in OEM factory installs, or certain groupings of languages which are included with retail Product Key.

What I would do is save externally a Win7 backup image of your current install, and back up your files.

Try running a Repair Install in the language of your choice, then try to activate with the Product Key. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

If it refuses to run the Repair Install (in-place Upgrade) then do a clean reinstall, see if that will activate with Prod Key. If not, speak with an MS activation agent to see if they will waive it through.

If not, then reimage your old install back onto HD.

 

[wearetheborg]

Thanks for the info!!

 

[brianzion]

have you had any result in fixing the language?

 

[wearetheborg]

have you had any result in fixing the language?

Not yet, but see following for some related issues on the laptop:
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/125368-upgrading-using-volume-win-7-dvd.html

Fixing the language in place will make sense for me (I could not fix it using Dism) if 1)it doesnt require a complete reinstall and 2)I can upgrade to win 7 pro using the work dvd.



There is a recovery reimaging partition on the laptop (around 16gb). Anyone know if Dism can be used to change the language on the recovery partition to english and THEN do a recoery which will hopefully reimage to english?

 

[Bill2]

Licensing requirements state that Windows 7 can include only a single language, with the exception of the Windows 7 Ultimate and the Enterprise editions. These are referred to as single-language editions. However, the Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions can include multiple language packs. These are referred to as multilingual editions.

You were talking about legitimacy so I thought I'll post this.

 

[wearetheborg]

Licensing requirements state that Windows 7 can include only a single language, with the exception of the Windows 7 Ultimate and the Enterprise editions. These are referred to as single-language editions. However, the Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions can include multiple language packs. These are referred to as multilingual editions.

You were talking about legitimacy so I thought I'll post this.

Thanks..I had read that, but I was not sure whether giving a *choice* of language would violate that clause.

Here typically on first boot, there is a choice of language between english and the local language. Somehow, on my computer I didnt get that choice.

 

[Bill2]

Ok, see this thread about the syntax of the dism command.

can i install a "language pack" in Windows 7 Professional?? - WinMatrix

If that doesnt help, just borrow a win7 dvd or download a clean copy of the language of choice, then activate by calling MS. Before doing that make sure you have made recovery dvds and preferrably also imaged the system, so you can back to the original language if things dont work out.

 

[wearetheborg]

[
Ok, see this thread about the syntax of the dism command.

can i install a "language pack" in Windows 7 Professional?? - WinMatrix

Thanks, those instructions helped.

Now, most of the things are in english, but when I remove a program, the info messages are still in the original language for some programs (preparing to remove etc).


To recap:
I downloaded the english language pack exe from the MS download links in
http://keznews.com/6149_Download_Wi...icial_32-bit_and_64-bit_Direct_Download_Links
Ran the exe to get the lp.cab file which had to be quickly renamed, say to lp.cab_.
Opened command prompt as admin and typed (without pressing enter}:

DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\XYZDIR\lp.cab

Opened another command prompt and renamed the lp.cab_ to lp.cab
Immediately pressed enter in the admin command window where the DISM command was waiting to be entered.

Then entered

bcdedit /set {current} locale  en-US

Then enetered

bcdboot %WinDir% /l en-US

In regedit deleted key

\HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MUI UILanguage\xxxxx

where xxxxx is the unwanted language.