Deploy language packs (SharePoint Server 2010)

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010

In this article:

• About language IDs and language packs

• Downloading language packs

• Installing language packs on the web and application servers

• Uninstalling language packs

Language packs enable site owners and site collection administrators to create SharePoint sites and site collections in multiple languages without requiring separate installations of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. You install language packs, which contain language-specific site templates, on web and application servers. When an administrator creates a site or a site collection that is based on a language-specific site template, the text that appears on the site or the site collection is displayed in the site template's language. Language packs are typically used in multinational deployments where a single server farm supports people in different locations, or when sites and web pages must be duplicated in one or more languages.

If users are accessing Microsoft Project Server 2010 in the SharePoint Server 2010 farm and have to view their project data in another language, they will also have to install a corresponding Project Server 2010 language pack. For more information about Project Server 2010 language packs, see Deploy language packs (Project Server 2010).

Word breakers and stemmers enable you to efficiently and effectively search across content on SharePoint sites and site collections in multiple languages without requiring separate installations of SharePoint Server 2010. Word breakers and stemmers are automatically installed on web servers by Setup.

About language IDs and language packs

When site owners or site collection administrators create sites or site collections, they can select a language for each site or site collection.

The language that they select has a language identifier (ID). The language ID determines the language that is used to display and interpret text that is put on the site or site collection. For example, when a site owner creates a site in French, the site's toolbars, navigation bars, lists, and column headings appear in French. Similarly, if a site owner creates a site in Arabic, the site's toolbars, navigation bars, lists, and column headings appear in Arabic. In addition, the default left-to-right orientation of the site changes to a right-to-left orientation to correctly display Arabic text.

The list of available languages that people can use to create a site or site collection is generated by the language packs that are installed on the web and application servers. By default, sites and site collections are created in the language in which SharePoint Server 2010 was installed. For example, if you install the Spanish version of SharePoint Server 2010, the default language for sites, site collections, and web pages is Spanish. If someone has to create sites, site collections, or web pages in a language other than the default SharePoint Server 2010 language, you must install the language pack for that language on the web and application servers. For example, if you are running the French version of SharePoint Server 2010, and a site owner wants to create sites in French, English, and Spanish, you must install the English and Spanish language packs on the web and application servers.

Language packs are not bundled into multilingual installation packages. You must install a specific language pack for each language that you want to support. Also, language packs must be installed on each web and application server to ensure that each web and application server can display content in the specified language.

For a list of all the language packs available, see Language packs (SharePoint Server 2010).

Although a site owner specifies a language ID for a site, some user interface elements such as error messages, notifications, and dialog boxes do not display in the language that was specified. This is because SharePoint Server 2010 relies on several supporting technologies — for example, the Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation, Microsoft ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 — some of which are localized into only a limited number of languages. If a user interface element is generated by any of the supporting technologies that is not localized into the language that the site owner specified for the site, the user interface element appears in English. For example, if a site owner creates a site in Hebrew, and the .NET Framework component displays a notification message, the notification message will not display in Hebrew because the .NET Framework is not localized into Hebrew. This situation can occur when sites are created in any language except the following: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

In some cases, some text might originate from the original installation language, which can create a mixed-language experience. This kind of mixed-language experience is typically seen only by content creators or site owners and is not seen by site users.

Downloading language packs

You must follow these steps for each language that you want to support. If you decide to download more than one language, please be aware that a unique file that has a common name is downloaded for each language. Therefore, make sure that you download each language pack to a separate folder on the hard disk so that you do not overwrite a language pack of a different language.

You can download language packs at 2010 Server Language Packs for SharePoint Server 2010, Project Server 2010, Search Server 2010, and Office Web Apps 2010Language Packs for SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Download the language pack

1. Download the 64-bit version of the language pack by using one of the download links.

2. On the download page, select the language that you want from the Change Language list, and then click Change.

3. Click Download on the web page.

4. In the dialog box that appears, click Save to download a copy of the file to the local computer.

Installing language packs on the web and application servers

After you install the necessary language files on the web and application servers, you can install the language packs. Language packs are available as individual downloads (one download for each supported language). If you have a server farm environment and you are installing language packs to support multiple languages, you must install the language packs on each of the web and application servers.

Install a language pack

1. Run setup.exe.

2. On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, review the terms, select the I accept the terms of this agreement check box, and then click Continue.

3. The Setup wizard runs and installs the language pack.

4. Rerun the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard by using the default settings. If you do not run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard after you install a language pack, the language pack will not be installed correctly.

Rerun the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard.

2. On the Welcome to SharePoint Products page, click Next.

3. Click Yes in the dialog box that alerts you that some services might have to be restarted during configuration.

4. On the Modify Server Farm Settings page, click Do not disconnect from this server farm, and then click Next.

5. If the Modify SharePoint Central Administration Web Administration Settings page appears, do not change any of the default settings, and then click Next.

6. On the Completing the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard page, click Next.

7. On the Configuration Successful page, click Finish.

When you install language packs, the language-specific site templates are installed in the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LanguageID directory, where LanguageID is the Language ID number for the language that you are installing. For example, the United States English language pack installs to the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\1033 directory. After you install a language pack, site owners and site collection administrators can create sites and site collections based on the language-specific site templates by specifying a language when they are creating a new SharePoint site or site collection.

Uninstalling language packs

If you no longer have to support a language for which you have installed a language pack, you can remove the language pack by using the Control Panel. Removing a language pack removes the language-specific site templates from the computer. All sites that were created that have those language-specific site templates will no longer work (the URL will produce a HTTP 500 - Internal server error page). Reinstalling the language pack will make the site functional.

See Also

Other Resources

Resource Center: Installation and Deployment for SharePoint Server 2010