Windows XP - German / English language settings

[Keydeck 9,207]

Right, need to tap into the brains of the assorted intelligencia out there.

 

I've got a flaptop running Windows XP which is in German. I want it to be in English. Apart from buying a new version of XP in English and reinstalling the beast, does anyone know another way around this problem?

 

I did try borrowing a DVD with various Windows versions from a friend but it didn't work out as you need to go online to get the product key and Mr. Mircosoft wasn't having any of it.

 

So, any advice or suggestions about what I can do would be more than welcome.

[pjoyce 19]

Keydeck,

 

Sadly I don't think there is anything you can do. There is a "Multilingual User Interface Pack" for the English version of XP Pro which should then allow you to switch all your menus/windows into German (and other languages) but you don't seem to be able to get this pack for a German version. I have heard though that this pack is only available to those with corporate licenses.

 

The article below should help explain things a little better

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertz...t/03april28.asp

 

Paul

[Keydeck 9,207]

Thanks Paul.

 

Guess I'll just have to go buy an English version. Pretty fucking annoying though. I bought the flaptop in Saturn and they gave their usual level of bugger all service when I asked about it. For the most part it doesn't matter as my applications are in English but it'd make life a lot simpler if the OS wasn't German. Mr. Microsoft being a twat as usual I guess.

 

Anyways, thanks for the input.

[don_riina 7,383]

I think you might have only two options really. Installing English XP over the German one, or creating a partition and having a dual boot system, which would be pointless (unless you are a sadist who actually wants to see foul german words on your machine from time to time).

I dunno about this 'buying' software business though. Can't you borrow windows XP from someone who has a version WITH a license key? I got a DEll PC, and it was all preinstalled in bloody German, with loads of crap unwanted software. Borrowed a friends English XP CD, and that was that.

One bit of advice, I would do (or get a techy friend to do) a total format of the harddrive and install English XP from scratch rather than install over the German one. Also bear in mind that if you bought the laptop with everything preinstalled that you'll have the 'fun' of having to locate and install all the drivers for bloody everything. If you have the German XP cd, with all the holograms and license stuff on it, perhaps Microsoft would swap it for you? Yeah, a long shot I know.

[Keydeck 9,207]

Thanks Don,

 

I don't intend buying it if I don't have to. Hopefully get something sorted in the next week or two, fingers crossed and thumbs firmly pressed.

[jordigo 14]

erpp- wait before you buy. when I arrived here, the entire windows setup including MS office was in german, meaning I was all of a sudden excel-illiterate since these idiots translate all of the functions as well

 

a friendly man from helpdesk then flipped a switch and I was back among the living within a matter of minutes. let me try and find out what he did and revert if I come up with anything

 

J

[jordigo 14]

ok try this for starters: start menu, settings, control panel, "regional and language options", then do the following

 

1/ in the tab "languages" (middle tab) at the bottom there is a drop down "language used in menus and dialogs" - select english

 

2/ in the tab "advanced" (right-hand tab) at the top in the section "language for non-unicode programs" select "english" from the drop down

 

then re-boot

 

I think that may do the job

 

J

[Keydeck 9,207]

Thanks Jordi,

 

I tried but the middle tab only has Deutsch in the drop-down and in the last tab if I select English it's looking for the installation disk.

 

Will give it another go at the weekend.

[Paul 7]

You have to be carefull on two counts here. If you borrow a version of XP you may find it needs to activated after a certain lenght of time. The means it phones home and says "Heyyywweeee... Here I am and this is the specifation of the computer I now exist on.." Trouble is, that if this changes too much from the original time it was registered, ie if your hardware setup is different in more than three ways, it might start to complain.

 

This does not apply to a "Mutli Volume" install of XP... Ask your freindly company Admin if he has such a CD.

 

Next you need to know if you can install all the drivers needed to get this laptop working. Most manufactors run websites with copies of the drivers hanging around somewhere... Make sure you download these and keep them somewhere safe.. A burnt CD for example.

 

Next, make sure your laptop came with a "Recovery CD" so that if it all goes tits up you can revert back (theorticaly) to how it all used to be.. The way we were so als sagen...

 

I too have a laptop, but face with the possible diasaters above I decided to leave the OS as German. I have set the preferences to English, which means most programmes intall in English if they have that option.

 

Good luck. Set phasors to stun, kirk out!

[Keydeck 9,207]

Thanks Paul.

 

Kinda came to a similar conclusion last night. Figured for the time being and to avoid the risk of monumental cock-up, the wrath of Bill and/or other unforeseen events that I'd leave it in Deutsch.

[sparty 20]

I have the worst experiences with recovery-cd's...it usually installs the most worthless programs which are not easy to get rid of, plus the fact that it usually formats your whole hard drive into one partition, even when you partitioned your drive yourself. That's why I always install a fresh clean copy of Windows (anything but XP ) and set the whole thing up myself...

So watch out for your personal documents when you use a recovery cd!!

[Paul 7]

Good point. Most recovery software just replaces and Image of the partition - useful when you install something that wont go away but not much fun when you find your emails, address book, documents folder and everything else has just gone swany...

 

Back up, back up, back up...

 

When done.. Do it again.

[Robert 2]

Ugh... My laptop, just came with a German OS too.

 

From the tips on here, guess I have to purchase the English version.

 

Keydeck, you still using the German OS or did you change your mind and purchase XP in English?

[YorkshireLad6 7,100]

If you borrow an English WinXP installation disk from a friend and copy it you can install it OVER the current German version and (legally) use the license key supplied with the original (German) version to activate it. I do it regularly and have confirmed its legallity with Microsoft. It's a good idea to do this BEFORE too much configuration on the system as you are likely to lose any data you created beforehand. You will need the support disk supplied with the original PC to install drivers, etc., which are particular to the hardware. Most support disks are multi-lingual and usually come with all the additional software (additional applications) in English too.

 

I've converted a number of "Aldi" PCs which are excellent value for money, and always come with support applications in English, so are easy to do...

 

YorkshireLad6

[Guest]

I am running Windows Extra Problems here at home.

 

It is in Deutsch.

 

How do I switch it to English? I have no prob with Deutsch on my PC but my Cubase music software has switched to Deutsch. Evidently it has found something in the regitry which says Deutsch!

 

How do I change it?

[sparty 20]

By formatting the harddrive and put an English version on it... Maybe there's a language option specifically for Cubase in the preferences (before you have to reserve the whole day for restoring windows, programs and data).

[tench 0]

Sparty,

 

I've borrowed a copy of the English version XP just today, to replace the deutsch on a laptop...

 

Do you mean I have to completely start again?? You can't just do a part install?

 

I'm a bit of a novice with dos/windows to be honest.. But I remember formatting a pc years back and having problems cos I didn't have a boot disk..

 

What's the best way to do it, wise one??

 

cheers

[Kza 37]

If you wanted Bulgarian, Hindi or Thai you could simply install a freely downloadable language pack over the top, but Microsoft dont offer an English one, so you have to reinstall, (or manually copy over certain DLLs etc but that creates more problems than it solves)

 

Because Windows sucks extremely much, you will also have to reinstall all your apps. You dont want to reformat though, just reinstall, that way your data files will be preserved, (but if they are in the windows directory, such as Eigene Dateien, and Desktop etc, you will need to copy them over).

 

Just think... With linux you would just have to change a single, per user setting, and your language instantly changes... Might be worth giving up on XP eh?

 

Also be careful "borrowing" a copy, your own license number might not work with a different language version, and even if it does you might have trouble activating.

[don_riina 7,383]

Full disk format & reinstall is best, but chuckin an English XP disk in and just doing a reinstall will also work. All programs need to be re-installed though.

 

 

With linux you would just have to change a single, per user setting, and your language instantly changes... Might be worth giving up on XP eh

Then you can also give up on alot of your software too though Jeremy.

[anand_kulkarni 0]

Hello,

 

Recently I bought a laptop in Germany. It has Windows as OS in German langauge. I would like to change that OS to English version.

Is it possible?

Pl let me know details you have

 

Regards

anand

 

Topics merged by admin