XP Interface Language change TO English

[Guest]

Dear all,

I bought a laptop for my daughter in Holland for Christmas and have been
having trouble changing the XP interface setting to English - we've been back
to the shop and they explained that we simply need the setup CD, which of
course wasnt supplied with the laptop, so 16CD's of back up later, we still
dont have one.

Is there a simple way of changing the XP language interface into english
without buying a new copy of XP?

Please help . . . . . . I'm going crazy with this now

 

[Alias]

Dear all,

I bought a laptop for my daughter in Holland for Christmas and have been
having trouble changing the XP interface setting to English - we've been back
to the shop and they explained that we simply need the setup CD, which of
course wasnt supplied with the laptop, so 16CD's of back up later, we still
dont have one.

Is there a simple way of changing the XP language interface into english
without buying a new copy of XP?

Please help . . . . . . I'm going crazy with this now

Nope. You gotta buy a new copy of XP. If cost is a consideration, I
recommend getting a generic OEM. If you have money to blow, get a retail
version. That said, although XP may very well have them, get the drivers
for your video, audio, etc. from your laptop's manufacturer's web site
before wiping out the XP on the laptop now.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Windows XP is written in specific language versions, therefore one
cannot change it from one language version to another. You'll need
to purchase a "Full Version" of Windows XP in the language version
you desire, reformat your drive and install it "clean".

Or if you have an available empty drive or partition, you can install
another "Full Version" of Windows XP in a different language version
and create a dual-boot configuration.

Cannot Upgrade or Install a Different Language Version of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;2820­89

A good third-party partitioning program is Partition Magic 8.
http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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

:

| Dear all,
|
| I bought a laptop for my daughter in Holland for Christmas and have been
| having trouble changing the XP interface setting to English - we've been back
| to the shop and they explained that we simply need the setup CD, which of
| course wasnt supplied with the laptop, so 16CD's of back up later, we still
| dont have one.
|
| Is there a simple way of changing the XP language interface into english
| without buying a new copy of XP?
|
| Please help . . . . . . I'm going crazy with this now

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I bought a laptop for my daughter in Holland for Christmas and have
been having trouble changing the XP interface setting to English -
we've been back to the shop and they explained that we simply need
the setup CD, which of course wasnt supplied with the laptop, so
16CD's of back up later, we still dont have one.

Is there a simple way of changing the XP language interface into
english without buying a new copy of XP?

No. The shop is wrong. Even if you had an original CD, you couldn't change
it. You need to buy an English version.

 

[Mike Williams]

Windows XP is written in specific language versions, therefore one
cannot change it from one language version to another.

Not really true. Corporations/volume licensees may buy language packs to
change the base language of Windows (or Office) from English to another
language.

In this case the OP has two limitations (1) original language is not
English; and (2) they undoubtedly only have an OEM or retail version of
Windows.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Dear all,

I bought a laptop for my daughter in Holland for Christmas and have been
having trouble changing the XP interface setting to English - we've been back
to the shop and they explained that we simply need the setup CD, which of
course wasnt supplied with the laptop, so 16CD's of back up later, we still
dont have one.

Is there a simple way of changing the XP language interface into english
without buying a new copy of XP?

Please help . . . . . . I'm going crazy with this now

You cannot upgrade or convert from one language version of the OS
to another, so you'll have to purchase and use the full version of
WinXP (in whatever language you want) to perform a clean installation.

Cannot Upgrade or Install a Different Language Version of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282089


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all who responded. However, when I install the new English version
of XP, will I lose all my data and apps that we have spent the last couple of
weeks loading?

eg: 6500 indexed photographs, games, office, realplayer, music etc etc?

Its a lot of work - it might be easier to just learn Dutch! haha

I guess what I am asking is Will XP autoformat my harddrive during install?

 

[Mike Williams]

Thanks to all who responded. However, when I install the new English version
of XP, will I lose all my data and apps that we have spent the last couple of
weeks loading?

eg: 6500 indexed photographs, games, office, realplayer, music etc etc?

Its a lot of work - it might be easier to just learn Dutch! haha

I guess what I am asking is Will XP autoformat my harddrive during install?

Irrespective of whether or not you are putting on a new version of
Windows, you should be backing up your data?!!! Does 25 years of PC
experience, plus viruses, trojans, failed hardware, human error etc
teach people nothing????

To tell the truth, I don't know whether you would be offered the choice
of installing over the existing version of Windows BUT you should start
afresh anyway because the Dutch pathnames will prove to be a headache.

You will have to reload all of your applications.

Scrubbing the hard-drive might be worthwhile too, but I would take a
system image of it beforehand for safety and to have a copy of any OEM
system tools that might be there. If you got any other software (like
Office) provided by the OEM and no separate reinstallation media, then
you should take appropriate precautions there.

When you're done you may still have to setup your system for DUTCH
keyboard LAYOUT, unless you want to get your keyboard caps replaced .

 

[Guest]

Hi Mike, thanks for the advice, its appreciated. I learned my backup lesson
many years ago - regularly backup, so dont panic there!! I have all the
original spoftware, photos, music etc on CD, but it was a real pain
installing them all. ON Monday I created a recovery set of CD's (32 discs)
using Symantec Ghost util. I guess if I reformat, install my new XP and then
reinstall the Ghost set, it will go back to dutch XP huh?

So nothing for it except to go for new retail XP and reinstall everything
from original CD's.

As for Keyboard caps - they are european standard, so no major issue there.

Once again thanks for all the advice.

Jason H.

 

[Mike Williams]

Hi Mike, thanks for the advice, its appreciated. I learned my backup lesson
many years ago - regularly backup, so dont panic there!! I have all the
original spoftware, photos, music etc on CD, but it was a real pain
installing them all. ON Monday I created a recovery set of CD's (32 discs)
using Symantec Ghost util. I guess if I reformat, install my new XP and then
reinstall the Ghost set, it will go back to dutch XP huh?

32 CDs sounds rather excessive! You might find it more practical to not
include any of your data folders in your recovery set. Reinstall all
your software and make whatever tweaks you find necessary, and then make
a recovery set that EXcludes My Documents and any other data folders
that you have created. You'll probably find you're down to 2-3 CDs then.

So nothing for it except to go for new retail XP and reinstall everything
from original CD's.

I think that is the wisest and most straightforward choice.

As for Keyboard caps - they are european standard, so no major issue there.

OK, couldn't remember (from my last round in an Amsterdam internet cafe)
if they used Euro standard or something else. But you will have to tell
Windows to use that layout at install-time as it will otherwise assume
US for everything when you have an English edition of Windows.

 

[Rock]

Thanks to all who responded. However, when I install the new English version
of XP, will I lose all my data and apps that we have spent the last couple of
weeks loading?

eg: 6500 indexed photographs, games, office, realplayer, music etc etc?

Its a lot of work - it might be easier to just learn Dutch! haha

I guess what I am asking is Will XP autoformat my harddrive during install?

It requires a clean install so you will have to reinstall all apps from
original media and restore backup data.