Remove language pack in windows 10

Question

Introduction

During the Windows 10 installation (new laptop, wasn't updating from 7 or 8) I was asked to choose which languages I wanted to add. I selected English US, my native language and English UK.

After a while I got tired of the UK pack and so I removed it by Language Button on the TaskBar > Language Preferences > English (United Kingdom) > Remove, which seemingly removed it.

A couple of days later I realized I still had to altshift twice to switch between languages even though I had supposedly removed English UK. So it seems that after every reboot the problem reappears.

When the problem occurs, I can see all 3 languages on the taskbar. But only 2 on the Language Settings page. Also the command Get-WinUserLanguageList only displays 2 languages.

What I've tried

I've tried adding and removing the pack again, which also temporarily fixes the problem (until the next reboot).

Computer Info

Operating System: Windows 10 Home (1903) (Build 18362.356)
Model Name: Inspiron 5579
Architecture: 64bit

Answer 1

The keyboard layout code for the United Kingdom keyboard is 00000809. It will be found in the registry under more than one key (listed below). It will be in an entry whose value is this string. Deleting the entry will delete the layout (leave the others in place). A reboot is required to see if the keyboard layout is successfully deleted.

The two main registry keys where keyboard layouts are found:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\CTF\SortOrder\Language

Some secondary registry keys where keyboard layouts may be found and which are worth checking:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CTF\SortOrder\Language
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\User Profile

Answer 2

Consider using the simple Set-WinUILanguageOverride, Set-WinSystemLocale and/or Set-WinUserLanguageList PowerShell cmdlets right from PowerShell passing the applicable culture parameter for the applicable language/locale.

You might only need to run the Set-WinUILanguageOverride to do the trick so it's retained after a reboot though since that is user specific. Furthermore, consider testing both admin elevated and not elevated though for additional thoroughness.

Set-WinUILanguageOverride en-US;
Set-WinSystemLocale en-US;
Set-WinUserLanguageList en-US;

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Supporting Resources

• Set-WinUILanguageOverride
• Set-WinSystemLocale
• Set-WinUserLanguageList
• International Settings Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell