What does "Locale ID" mean in Windows 7 error reports?

Question

I have come across a "Problem Signature", as follows, which contains a "Locale ID". What does it mean?

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:   PowerShell
  NameOfExe:    powershell.exe
  FileVersionOfSystemManagementAutomation:  10.0.10105.0
  InnermostExceptionType:   System.ArgumentException
  OutermostExceptionType:   System.ArgumentException
  DeepestPowerShellFrame:   werShell.ConsoleHost.InitializeStandardInputReader
  DeepestFrame: System.IO.FileStream..ctor
  ThreadName:   Consol.. main thread
  OS Version:   6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.4
  Locale ID:    1033

Answer 1

Turns out there's a pretty thorough explanation of how this works for National Language Support (NLS) this in the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). The gist follows:

...The purpose... defining NLS services (sorting, time/date formatting, and keyboards/IMEs) for locales that do not yet have native support in Windows to avoid conflict. - Locale IDs Assigned by Microsoft

Basically, that means that developers can use the locale IDs in case the user's Windows doesn't have that user's language and other locale information already. That way, the developer can offer their own language support for that user, independent of whether Microsoft has localized Windows to that Locale.

Looks like I missed this on MSDN, somehow. Anyway, if anyone comes across this on Google, the above should explain it.

If I have gotten this wrong, please comment or offer another answer, though!

Answer 2

'Locale' refers to the country and language you're using. Different countries have different languages (obviously), but even countries that speak the same language have different ways of representing dates, times, and currency.

1033 is US-English. 1041 is Japanese, etc.

You may see it sometimes written as en_US (for US English), or en_AU (for Australian English). That is the internationally accepted way of doing it. The number is a Microsoft thing.