Add a Language to Windows Setup

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You can add a language to Windows Setup by adding the Windows Setup language resources to the Windows distribution sources directory and by installing or adding a language pack.

Typically, the default language of the Windows distribution is used during Windows Setup. By adding the setup language resources to the distribution, you can add support for one or more languages. These languages can either be installed offline onto the image or added to the Setup distribution.

The computer that you plan to run Windows Setup on must support the language that you are adding to Windows Setup. For example, if you are installing French and Spanish language support to Windows Setup, and are using Windows PE for deployment, Windows PE must support both the French and Spanish languages.

To Change the Language of Windows Setup

  1. Locate the language pack that contains the language resources that you intend to add Windows Setup support for.

  2. Install a language pack to a Windows image.
    For more information, see Install a Language Pack to an Offline Image or Copy a Language Pack to the Windows Distribution.

  3. Extract the contents of the language pack by using the Expand.exe tool. The Windows Setup localization resources are stored in the Lp.cab file. Expand.exe is available on a Windows Vista installation, in the Windows OPK and in the Windows AIK.
    For example,

    expand.exe C:\LPs\es-es\lp.cab -f:* C:\LPs\es-es\extracted_files

    For more information about using Expand.exe, see Expand Command-Line Options.

  4. Locate the Windows distribution where you intend to add support for a language. The Windows Setup language resources are stored in the **Sources/**Language folder of the Windows distribution.
    Create a new directory in the Windows distribution for the localized setup files. For example,

    mkdir C:\windows_distribution\sources\es-es

  5. In the expanded .cab file contents, find the Setup\ directory and copy it to the S**ources\**Language directory of the Windows distribution. For example,

    xcopy C:\LPs\es-es\extracted_files\setup\sources\es-es\* C:\windows_distribution\sources\es-es\ /cheryki

  6. Copy the expanded language pack license files to the **Sources\License\**Language directory. For example,

    xcopy C:\LPs\es-es\extracted_files\sources\license\* C:\windows_distribution\sources\license /cheryki

  7. Use Intlcfg.exe to recreate the Lang.ini file. Before you can use Intlcfg, you must mount the Install.wim file included in the Windows distribution.
    For example, mount the Windows image, recreate the Lang.ini file, and unmount the Windows image by using the following commands.

    imagex /mountrw C:\windows_distribution\sources\install.wim 1 C:\wim_mount
intlcfg -genlangini -dist:C:\windows_distribution -image:C:\wim_mount
imagex /unmount /commit C:\wim_mount

    If you installed the language pack onto the Windows image by using Package Manager, you can use the -defaultlang option of the Intlcfg command to specify the default language to use during Windows Setup. For more information, see Intlcfg Command-Line Options.
    If you added a language pack to the Windows distribution, these languages must be added to the Lang.ini file. The Lang.ini file must be similar to the following example.

    [Available UI Languages]
en-US=1
es-ES=0

[Fallback Languages]
en-US=en-US

To Update Boot.wim

If you are creating a bootable DVD or are planning to use the Boot.wim file to boot a computer without an operating system, you must also add the Windows Setup localized resource files to the Boot.wim file.

  1. Mount the Windows Setup image in the Boot.wim file by using ImageX. For example,

    imagex /mountrw C:\windows_distribution\sources\boot.wim 2 C:\bootwim_mount

  2. Copy the Windows Setup localized resources to the Boot.wim file. For example,

    xcopy C:\LPs\es-es\extracted_files\setup\* C:\bootwim_mount\sources\es-es\ /cheryki

  3. Copy the Windows Setup license files to the Boot.wim file. For example,

    xcopy C:\LPs\es-es\extracted_files\sources\license\* C:\bootwim_mount\sources\es-es\ /cheryki

  4. Copy the Windows distribution Lang.ini file to the Boot.wim file. For example,

    xcopy C:\windows_distribution\sources\lang.ini C:\bootwim_mount\sources\ /cheryki

  5. Commit the changes and unmount the Boot.wim file. For example,

    imagex /unmount /commit C:\bootwim_mount

Note

To add language support for languages that require additional font packages, you must start with the Boot.wim file that contains these additional font packages. For example, if you want to create a Boot.wim file that supports both English and Japanese, you must start with a Japanese Boot.wim file. This is because the Japanese Boot.wim file contains font support for both English and Japanese characters. If you add Japanese Setup sources to an English Boot.wim file, the Japanese text will be incorrectly displayed because English Boot.wim files only have English font support. If you want to add support for multiple languages that require multiple font packages, you should create your own Windows PE image.

See Also

Concepts

Manage Language Packs for Windows