How to Configure Regional and Language Support for User Accounts

The Windows® XP Professional operating system will be available in 24 official localized versions in addition to English. In any version of Windows XP Professional, you can display, input, edit, and print documents in hundreds of languages. Users or administrators can set regional preferences, fonts, keyboard layouts, sorting orders, date formats, and so on.

Some language versions of Windows XP Professional might require installing the Complex Script and Right-to-Left Language Collection or the East Asian Language Collection, as well as the appropriate input languages, to properly input and display all characters.

Administrators can specify which input languages are available for user selection at the Windows logon screen, and which are applied to new user accounts, by adding the appropriate input languages to the default user account.

To add an input language for the current user

1. In Control Panel, click Regional and Language Options.

2. Click the Languages tab, and then under Text services and input languages, click Details.

3. Under Installed services, click Add.

4. In the Input Language box, click the input language that you want to add to enable users to input text in that language, as shown in Figure 1 below.

   

   Figure 1. Adding the input language

This installs the input language with the default keyboard layout/IME listed in the Keyboard layout/IME box.

To add an alternative keyboard layout/IME for an input language

1. In Control Panel, click Regional and Language Options.

2. Click the Languages tab, and then under Text services and input languages, click Details.

3. Under Installed services, click Add.

4. In the Keyboard layout/IME box, click the alternative keyboard layout or IME that you want to add to enable users to input text in the specified input language, as shown in Figure 2 below.

   

   Figure 2. Choosing keyboard layout

To specify the default input language for the current user

1. In Control Panel, click Regional and Language Options.

2. Click the Languages tab, and then under Text services and input languages, click Details.

3. Under Default input language, select the appropriate input language, as shown in Figure 3 below.

   

   Figure 3. Choosing a default language

To add an input language for the default user account

1. Log on as an Administrator.

2. In Control Panel, click Regional and Language Options.

3. Click the Languages tab, and then under Text services and input languages, click Details.

4. Under Installed services, click Add.

5. In the Input Language box, click the input language that you want to add to enable users to input text in that language, and then click OK. If you want to add more than one input language, repeat this step for each language that you want to add.

6. Click OK or Apply to close the Text Services and Input Languages dialog box.

7. Click the Advanced tab, and then select the Apply all settings to the current user account and to the default user profile check box, as shown in Figure 4 below.

   

   Figure 4. Adding default language for default user account