Reseting a PC to English from Chinese

November 2, 2007 2:03 PM

How can we reset my mom's old PC laptop from Chinese to English?

I will be visiting my mom for the holidays and would like to fix her computer problem while there. She loaned it to a friend from Hong Kong who set it to Chinese and now we can't get it back to English. The icons in the start panel and desktop are gone (gray squares now) so it's all Mandarin characters.... From the sound of it it should be a simple solution, but she's taken it to a number of computer repair places who can't figure it out. Want to save her from the goons at Geek Squad, and earn good karma as well. Thanks!

posted by wowbobwow to computers & internet (8 comments total)

It may be that Windows was reinstalled in Chinese, rather than just simply changing the regional settings. If that is the case, you will need to reinstall Windows in English.
posted by doomtop at 2:17 PM on November 2, 2007

Assuming it's Windows XP, try this:

Open Regional and Language Options in Control Panel.
On the Languages tab, under Language used in menus and dialogs, click the language you want (English, I expect).

This option is only available in the Windows Multilingual User Interface Pack.

The icons should be the same, regardless of the language. Control Panel is a box with a pencil and a tick. Regional and Language options is a globe. Languages is the middle tab of that dialogue box.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 2:21 PM on November 2, 2007

I have not reinstalled Windows on a machine before, so I must hazard the simple question of: will doing that erase her pre-existing files/documents? It may come to that if I can't resolve the junked-out icons issue.
posted by wowbobwow at 2:26 PM on November 2, 2007

wowbobwow: "I have not reinstalled Windows on a machine before, so I must hazard the simple question of: will doing that erase her pre-existing files/documents? It may come to that if I can't resolve the junked-out icons issue."

Yes. Backup her documents and files to an external drive before you reinstall.
posted by sharkfu at 2:51 PM on November 2, 2007

What if the asker did a repair install? Would it allow a new language to be selected? I'm thinking so, but don't know for sure. And that wouldn't delete files and documents. Would still recommend a backup.
posted by DMan at 3:24 PM on November 2, 2007

Excellent suggestions. I will humbly attempt to carry them out without causing more problems...
posted by wowbobwow at 4:26 PM on November 2, 2007

Firstly, what version of Windows is she using?

I seriously doubt that the Hong Kong friend reinstalled the Chinese version of Windows - your mom's files would have probably gotten wiped out. This should be a simple regional/language options fix. Too many people reinstall Windows when there are plenty of options still available to save the computer.
posted by pravit at 5:18 PM on November 2, 2007

Firstly, what version of Windows is she using

First step. Absolutely.
posted by Neiltupper at 7:41 PM on November 2, 2007