Arabic in control panels

[mdinowit]

I had a virus a few weeks back and since removing it, most of my
control panels are in arabic. I can't read any of them, change anything
and can't find any solutions on the net. Does anyone know how to fix
this?

A perfect example is when I press start and look at the windows update
button, it's in arabic. Pressing it leads to the add/remove software
which is also in arabic.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Herb Martin]

I had a virus a few weeks back and since removing it, most of my
control panels are in arabic. I can't read any of them, change anything
and can't find any solutions on the net. Does anyone know how to fix
this?

When you have a (strange) problem such as this it is really
important that you include your OS version, Service Packs,
and relavant add-ons like the MUI (Multi-Language User
Interface.)

A perfect example is when I press start and look at the windows update
button, it's in arabic. Pressing it leads to the add/remove software
which is also in arabic.

We must assume that you have installed the MUI (at some point)
and that somehow this machine has been set to use it for the GUI
(dialogs and menus.)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

If that is the case and you can find your way to the Regional
control panel you can switch back to English.

I don't know if safe mode bypasses the MUI but suspect that it
will and thus would be a way to get English (or your language
choice) long enough to switch back (and then reboot.)

Technically an MUI change requires a NEW LOGON, but if
you have booted into safe mode you will need the reboot also.

After that, or if this is not an MUI problem (very weird) then
I would suggest a REPAIR INSTALL be high on your list of
possible next steps.

Repair install == Boot original OS CDROM, choose install,
install to same directory AND ENSURE that you get the prompt
which offers to REPAIR, and that you SELECT TO REPAIR
the current installation.

Follow such REPAIR installs, with updates from Microsoft
Updates (or your internal SUS/MSUS)

switch back to

 

[mdinowit]

Sorry about the lack of info. I'm running XP server on a dell with all
current server packs and windows defender. I don't have the MUI
installed and have tried to look in the regional settings and all of
them say English. I've looked around and others have had this problem
going back years and no one has posted a solution (other than you).
Unfortunatly, you solution didn't work. I tried:
changing the regional in normal mode
changing the regional in safe mode
looking for a MUI
looking for an arabic setting in the registry
looking for an arabic font in the fonts directory
The only thing I have not tried was a repair as it's a dell and they
didn't send me the CDs. I'm going to look at another computer to see if
this is a character by character alteration from english to arabic
which simply means I have to change the font somewhere. If it's not,
then I'm at a total loss.

Thanks for your suggestions.