Switching XP language from French

[vancouv]

Bit of a strange one this, something that a friend has asked me about (honestly!). This is his description:

I bought a cheap (£14) copy of XP PRO. It is a DELL OEM version in French which I have installed on a PC for my daughter in law. It will only install in French. It works fine but the French is a bit much, all the XP messages take a bit of working out so I am trying to turn it into English. I tried changing the Regional language settings but these just work at the application level and not at the raw system level. I have tried copying various DLL from C:\WINDOWS\system32\en on my English PC to replace the French bits in C:\WINDOWS\system32\fr but it did not work. It didn't even make the slightest difference. Not even an abend. I had to double check that I had actually changed the DLL files.

He's since got a pukka version of XP so this has become a bit of an academic exercise, but I was wondering if any of you clever guys & gals on this forum had any ideas?


Those :\ are actually a colon and back slash!

[MacBoero]

It is only possible using a Microsoft Multi-language User Interface Pack. These are not available through retail channels as far as I can tell. I also believe that the MUI packs can only transform an English WXP installation to another language, not the other way.

[OFSO]

We expats face the same problem here in Spain. If you need the software in English you buy it in England or better still in the USA at half the price (or summit like that). Mr. Ordinary User can't switch the language on XP, Vista (shudder) or 7.

[Bushfiva]

windows 7 ultimate, no problem. Buy any language you want, change it to any language as often as you want.

[AnthonyGA]

The display language of Windows XP cannot be changed. The language is determined at installation time. Retail versions of XP typically have only one language. OEM installation CDs may offer a choice of languages at installation time. Once installation is complete, the language cannot be changed without reinstalling.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 allow a change in display language without reinstallation, if you have the desired language files already installed (some languages are installed by default, others must be installed explicitly).

It's always cleanest to install in the language you intend to use. There are zillions of small language-dependent features and files in the OS and in applications that may end up mixed up if you change languages after installation (in cases where this is possible).