Change Windows 7/8/10 system language - welcome screen, login, etc

Changing an admininstrator user language is pretty straight-forward, but it does not change the language of the Boot screen, Welcome screen, Login screen, etc...

Pretty much anything that's not on the desktop remains in the original language of the installation so it can look really ugly (for example, having a menu label in Spanish, and the menu items in English, etc.)

How to change that?

I've Googled this for hours and could only find answers about how to change the user language, which is completely irrelevant for this issue.

Shomz

Posted 2015-08-01T00:18:57.463

Reputation: 1 471

Answers

There is a great, but not really obvious option that can do this. It will work for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Here are the steps:

open Control Panel
open Region
open the Administrative tab
click the button Copy Settings

On this screen you can copy your current language (of course, make sure your user language is set to the one you want to use everywhere) to the system account which will cause everything to show up in the language you choose. You also have an option to set it as default for new users.

Changing the settings will require a system restart.

This answer is inspired by Kari's answer on sevenforums.

Shomz

Posted 2015-08-01T00:18:57.463

Reputation: 1 471

6Since I have had an impact on 1 million users and the fact this has to be the single best answer to a question I have seen in the last 4 years, I am going to issue a bounty to this answer, this question has been asked dozens upon dozens of times and I have never seen anyone actually answer it. – Ramhound – 2015-08-01T01:02:18.333

2@Ramhound Thank you so much! I'm actually glad to hear I'm not the only one who spent hours on this. :) – Shomz – 2015-08-01T01:04:17.753

64 years and I have never seen anyone actually know how to answer this question. – Ramhound – 2015-08-01T01:05:40.027

3Bounty awarded. You should make every answer you submit this good. – Ramhound – 2015-08-06T01:32:06.320

This does not work for me on Windows 10 Pro, there is no "Admin" tab and Region and Language are split in two areas. Anyone know how to fix this here? – 576i – 2017-01-28T16:47:48.377

2You've probably figured it out by now (as it took me like 15 seconds to find it), the identical menu exist under "Region". Everything else is the same. @576i – Shomz – 2017-01-28T19:02:25.170

@shomz - Thanks for mentioning it. I was thrown off by the fact that it did not have an "Administration" tab and I run the screens in German, not English. But you're right, after changing that, my Welcome & reboot screen is no longer Japanese.. Thanks! Now I only need to fix my cmd-windows, that will only turn German if I type "intl.cpl" (which is a pain because the japanese keyboard lacks a backslash...) – 576i – 2017-01-28T19:21:44.740

@576i No problem. Btw. when you read my answer, the second bullet says "open Region", so it's been there all the time. – Shomz – 2017-01-28T19:31:05.523

On Wnidow-10, now it is not enough to only "Copy Settings" as it instructed in the answer of Shomz.

You have also to set a different input method for each app window setting.
Otherwise you'll be getting the last selected by you language on your Lock/Welcome Screen.

I mean the following

You select a language different from English
You lock you screen (Win + L).
You always get a language different from English when you're trying to type you password to unlock Windows 10.

You will find different input method setting in following places.

On Windows 10 after 2018
Start/Windows button > Settings icon (a gear above the power icon) >
Devices > Typing (in the left bar) >
Advanced keyboard settings (at the bottom of the window)
Select "Let me set a different input method for each app window" checkbox.

On Windows 10 after 2016
Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Language
Advanced settings (in the left bar)
Select "Let me set a different input method for each app window" checkbox.

By the way, I really dream to find a method to always have "English only" on my Welcome/Lock screen but with unchecked Let me set a different input method for each app window setting checkbox.
And I slightly hate Microsoft guys for torturing me that way one more time.))
You can imagine how many people have to endure this silently, around the globe.

it3xl

Posted 2015-08-01T00:18:57.463

Reputation: 131