InputLocale

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Vista

InputLocale specifies the input language and the input method for input devices, such as the keyboard layout. This setting is used by Windows® Setup and Windows Deployment Services.

The input locale (also called input language) is a per-process setting that describes a language (for example, Greek) and an input method (for example, the keyboard).

Multiple input locales can be installed, and the user can switch between them. Users can add and remove input locales through the Keyboard and Languages tab of the Region and Language Control Panel.

For a list of supported languages, locales, and identifiers, see Supported Language Packs and Default Settings.

Value

Input_locale

Specifies the input language and the keyboard layout for a Windows installation.

Input_locale can be one of two values:

  • A language identifier. For example, to use the default keyboard layout for English (United States) that corresponds to the QWERTY keyboard, you can specify the value en-US.

  • A locale ID and keyboard layout represented as hexadecimal values. For example, for en-US, use 0409:00000409. The first 0409 value represents the locale ID of the input language, and the second 00000409 value represents the keyboard layout.

To specify more than one input locale and add support for more than one keyboard type, you can specify multiple values separated by semicolons. For example, you can specify <InputLocale>en-US; fr-FR; es-ES</InputLocale> to add support for English (US), French (France), and Spanish (Spain) keyboards. The first value that is listed is used as the default keyboard.

The valid keyboard layouts that can be configured on a computer are listed in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Keyboard Layouts registry key.

This string type supports empty elements.

Parent Hierarchy

Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE | InputLocale

Valid Configuration Passes

windowsPE

Applies To

For a list of the Windows editions and architectures that this component supports, see Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE.

XML Example

The following example shows how to set the input locale to the English (United States) Dvorak keyboard.

<InputLocale>0409:00010409</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> 
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> 
<UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>

See Also

Concepts

Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core