Changing Vista from French to English

[Rod Jones]

I'm currently living in France and recently purchased an Acer computer here,
with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. I'd assumed that I'd be able to select
English as the display language but, apart from being able to select an
English keyboard, everything is in French. If necessary, I'll live with this
(it's a way of improving my French) but, if I could do it at reasonable cost,
I'd like to convert it to English.

Purchsing the full English version is out of the question, as is upgrading
to French Vista Ultimate and downloading an English language pack. Purchasing
the English Home Premium Upgrade would have been OK, but I believe that this
won't work with my current French version. An upgrade DVD was included with
the computer, which appears to require payment on-line; I assume that this
would be French also, so it's of no use to me.

This seems to leave buying the English Home Premium OEM as the only viable
option. However, I'm uncertain about the practicality of doing this. For
example, would I do a 'clean' installation? I'm not really sure what this
means. What about activation? I've seen various conflicting reports on this.
I believe that my pre-installed French Vista will have a hidden product key,
so I can't use that. There's a 25-digit Vista product key on a label attached
to my computer - would I use that?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

What you need to do is to order the Acer recovery media in English:
https://secure3.tx.acer.com/RCD/Main.aspx

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

---------------------------------------------------------------

I'm currently living in France and recently purchased an Acer computer here,
with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. I'd assumed that I'd be able to select
English as the display language but, apart from being able to select an
English keyboard, everything is in French. If necessary, I'll live with this
(it's a way of improving my French) but, if I could do it at reasonable cost,
I'd like to convert it to English.

Purchsing the full English version is out of the question, as is upgrading
to French Vista Ultimate and downloading an English language pack. Purchasing
the English Home Premium Upgrade would have been OK, but I believe that this
won't work with my current French version. An upgrade DVD was included with
the computer, which appears to require payment on-line; I assume that this
would be French also, so it's of no use to me.

This seems to leave buying the English Home Premium OEM as the only viable
option. However, I'm uncertain about the practicality of doing this. For
example, would I do a 'clean' installation? I'm not really sure what this
means. What about activation? I've seen various conflicting reports on this.
I believe that my pre-installed French Vista will have a hidden product key,
so I can't use that. There's a 25-digit Vista product key on a label attached
to my computer - would I use that?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

You cannot change languages in any retail version of Vista except Business
or Ultimate, so there is no upgrade path possible - wipe and reinstall if
yoru only option.. You would need to use they key that comes with the new
package to install it, not the key on your computer.

 

[Earle Horton]

Carey, will this page accept the serial number from his French computer, and
sell him an English version recovery disk? Will the English recovery disk
accept the Vista product key from his French computer at install time? I am
thinking maybe "yes" to both questions, but if not there is still a problem.

Rod, if you use Office 2007 then check the Office web site for English
Language Pack availability. This gives you menus, dialogs and commonly used
stationery in English for Office applications only, but that is something,
and only costs $24.95. I have the German Language Pack on my English
Language computer.

As a last resort I am 57 and learning French for the first time. It is not
so bad.

Good luck,

Earle

 

[Frank]

upgrade to ultimate.

this is a discgrace.

No you're a disgrace. Investigate first then purchase what you need.

linux is not only free but you have all languages right

there available.

Yes, you can then do nothing in multiple languages.
Wonderful!

windows should be able to have all languages for free..

You should learn that productive people work for money.
Frank

 

[Frank]

laugh at the idiot moron loser in the box wrote:


------------------------------------------

You're a delusional, mentally challenged, incompetent POS idiot moron
loser capin' crunch.
STFU!...LOL!
Frank

 

[Rod Jones]

Thanks Carey.

I've tried this, but when I enter the computer's serial number
(double-checked), I get the response 'Serial number does not exist or is
invalid'.

This brings me back to my proposal to buy an English OEM version of Vista
and install that; in effect, all I would be doing is replacing the existing
(factory-installed) French OEM with an English one. Would this be OK?

Rod Jones

 

[Earle Horton]

I would buy the full one. They are cheap enough and OEM versions are hard
to find. Besides they make you buy a mouse or a hard disk, to be able to
say they sold you the operating system with "hardware" or "a new computer".
They way I look at it, you get a volume discount when you buy a computer
with an OS on it. The out of country operating system is specialized
software, that they have a right to charge you if you speak English in
France, Japanese in the U.S., etc. It's sleazy the way they get money from
people who really need the functionality, which is already built in by
release date, but what the hell. It is worth something to you, so why not
make you pay?

To answer your question, it should work fine. Your serial number is
probably invalid, because it is associated with a machine already sold with
French operating system, and they keep track of serial numbers by country.
If you email or call Acer, they may be able to do something for you, but I
wouldn't bet on it. What's in it for them, except customer good will and
possible future purchases?

I am thinking of upgrading to Ultimate myself. The price is a gouge too,
but at least it looks as if I would maybe wind up with what I want.

As far as getting the software, you should be able to find a mail-order
house in England no problem. Or maybe, if you know someone in the States
who is coming for a visit, they can pick up a copy at Office Depot.

Earle

 

[Rod Jones]

Thanks for the advice, Earle.

Amazon UK are offering OEM Vista Premium for £63 (with no requirement to
purchase hardware) and Full Vista Premium for £170. So, to me, there's no
contest: if I do anything, I'll get the OEM version!

Rod