How to Install Windows 8 Language Pack and Change Windows Display Language

This article describes how to Install Language Packs and Change the Windows Display Language for  Windows 8.
 

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Table of Contents 

1. Installing a Language Pack and Change the Windows Display Language from Control Panel
2. How to Uninstall a Language Pack
3. How to change the display language of pre-installed Windows Store apps

 

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1. Installing a Language Pack and Change the Windows Display Language from Control Panel

1. On the Start page, type language, aand make sure that the search scope is set to Settings. 



2. In the Results panel, click or tap Language. 



3. In the Change your language preferences pane, click or tap Add a Language. 



4. Browse of Search for the language that you want to install. 

For example, select Catalan and then click of tap Add. Catalan is now added as one of your languages. 



5. In the Change your language preferences pane, click or tap Options next to the language that you added. 



6. If a language pack is available to download for your language, click or tap Download and install language pack. 



7. When the language pack is installed, the language is displayed as available to use for the Windows display language. 



8. To make this language your display language, move it to the top of your language list. 



9. Log off and then log back on to Windows for the change to take effect. 
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2. How to uninstall a Language Pack

To uninstall a language pack, follow these steps: 

1. On the Start page, type language, and make sure that the search scope is set to Settings. 



2. In the Results panel, click or tap Language. 



3. In the Change your language preferences pane, click or tap Options next to the language that you want to change. You must make sure that the language pack that you want to remove is currently not being used. Be aware that you cannot remove the original install language of Windows. 



4. If the language pack can be uninstalled, a link to uninstall the language pack is shown. Click or tap Uninstall language pack.


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3. How to change the display language of pre-installed Windows Store apps

After you install a language pack and change the Windows display language, you may notice the pre-installed Windows Store apps, such as Weather or Maps, do not initially change to the new display language. When you change display languages, the built-in Windows Store apps have not yet downloaded the corresponding language resource files they need in order to be displayed in the new language. If you have automatic Windows updates enabled, the language resource files for these apps are automatically downloaded at your next scheduled Windows Update.  Then, the app’s metadata cache must update before the built-in Windows Store apps finally appear in the new language.  The whole process will take place automatically provided that you have automatic Windows updates enabled, but typically this process needs a few days to finish.

If you want the preinstalled Windows Store apps to display in the new language immediately, you will need to install additional Windows updates, change some user profile settings, and then view the apps in a newly created user account.  

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Once the new display language is installed, restart the computer, and then log on to an administrator account.

2. Check for new Windows updates by doing the following:

a. From the Start screen, type Windows Update, and then select Windows Update.
b. Tap or click Check for updates.

3. Install the new updates that are found by tapping or clicking Install updates.

4. Check that your location setting is accurate. Some Windows Store apps use this setting to provide more accurate information that is in the appropriate format. Do the following to check your location setting:

a. Open Control Panel.
b. Tap or click Clock, Language, and Region.
c. Tap or click Change location.
d. Select your home location from the dropdown, and then tap or click OK.

5. Change the Welcome screen and the new user accounts settings to the new display language by doing the following:

a. Open Control Panel.
b. Tap or click Clock, Language, and Region.
c. Tap or click Region, and then tap or click the Administrative tab.
d. Under the Welcome screen and new user accounts, tap or click Copy settings... and approve if you are prompted.
e. Your new display language, input language, format, and location should be listed under "Current User." If this is correct, select the boxes to copy your current settings to Welcome screen and system accounts and to New user accounts. Then, tap or click OK.

6. Create a new user account by doing the following:

a. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings. (If you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)
b. Tap or click Accounts, and then tap or click Other accounts.
c. Tap or click Add an account.
d. Enter the account info for this person to log onp to Windows. There are four ways to do this:

• If the person you're adding already has a Microsoft account, enter it now.
• If the person you're adding doesn't have a Microsoft account, you can use their email address to create one. Enter the email address that person uses most frequently.
• If the person you're adding doesn't have an email address, tap or click Sign up for a new email address. A new email address is free.
• If the person you're adding is a child, tap or click Add a child's account.

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