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Add Language Interface Packs to Windows

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

Language Interface Packs (LIPs) contain a reduced set of localized resources and must be installed on a genuine copy of Windows that includes the supported parent language.

Windows® 8 LIPs can be installed on Windows 8, provided a valid parent language is already installed. For example, the Catalan (ca-ES) LIP can be installed only if one of the following languages is already installed: English US (en-US), English UK (en-GB), Spanish (es-ES), or French (fr-FR).

If you install a LIP to an offline Windows image, you must verify that the supported parent language pack is installed to the Windows image to which you intend to install the LIP. For a list of the supported parent languages, see Language Pack Default Values.

LIPs must be installed to the operating system that they support. Windows 8 LIPs cannot be used on Windows 7; similarly, Windows 7 LIPs cannot be used on Windows 8.

Not all LIPs are currently available for Windows 8. For information about the latest available LIPs, see one of the following websites:

Note

For Windows 8, language packs and LIPs are also available to download from Windows Update. You can add additional languages by using the control panel. This process requires internet access and access to Windows Update. IT Professionals and end-users can use Windows Update to add additional languages to their Windows installations.
On the destination computer, open Windows Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Language > Add Language. Chose the language that you want to add and follow the instructions in the Control Panel to configure the language as the default.

Download and Install LIPs

These processes describe how to deploy LIPs to a running Windows installation or an offline Windows image.

To install a LIP (.mlc file) on a running Windows installation

  1. Download the appropriate LIP from a computer that has internet access. This example uses Catalan (ca-ES).

  2. Boot Windows to audit mode.

    At the OOBE screen, press CTRL+SHIFT+F3, or use an answer file with the setting Microsoft-Windows-Deployment/Reseal=Audit.

    For more information about audit mode, see Audit Mode Overview.

  3. Copy the LIP file to the destination computer.

  4. Navigate to the directory that contains the LIP that you intend to install and then double-click the .mlc file. For example, open the ca-ES directory and double-click LIP_ca-ES-64bit. The Install or Uninstall Display Languages window appears. Follow the instructions to complete the installation. The language is installed to the computer.

    From a command line, run sysprep /oobe to prepare the computer for the end-user or sysprep /oobe /generalize to prepare the Windows installation to be captured and deployed to other computers.

    For more information about using generalize, see How to Capture an Image for Deployment (Generalize)

  5. After the LIP language is installed, you can change the User Interface language through the Change your language preferences section of the Control Panel.

Note

For more information about LIPs and other multilingual resources, see Add Language Packs to Windows.

To install a LIP to an offline Windows image

  1. Download the appropriate LIP from a computer that has internet access. This example uses Catalan (ca-ES).

  2. Rename the .mlc file to .cab. For example, change LIP_ca-ES-64bit.mlc to LIP_ca-ES64bit.cab.

  3. Open the Deployment Tools Command Prompt with elevated permissions

  4. Mount the Windows image that you want to install the LIP to. For example, mount the es-ES version of Windows 8.

    Dism /mount-image /imagefile:C:\my_distribution\sources\install.wim /index:1 /mountdir:C:\mount\windows

  5. Add the LIP package to the Windows image by using DISM.

    Dism /image:C:\mount\windows /add-package /packagepath:C:\LanguagePack\LIPs\ca-ES\LIP_ca-ES64bit.cab

  6. Recreate the lang.ini file.

    Dism /image:C:\mount\windows /gen-langini /distribution:C:\my_distribution

    The lang.ini file in C:\myDistribution\sources should look similar to the following:

    [Available UI Languages]
ca-ES = 2
es-ES = 3
 
[Fallback Languages]
es-ES = en-us

  7. Review the default international settings in the Windows image by using DISM.

    Dism /image:C:\mount\windows /get-intl

    .    For example, you should see output similar to the following:

    Reporting offline international settings.
 
Default system UI language : es-ES
System locale : ca-ES
Default time zone : Romance Standard Time
User locale for default user : ca-ES
Location : Spain (GEOID = 217)
Active keyboard(s) : 0403:0000040a
Keyboard layered driver : PC/AT Enhanced Keyboard (101/102-Key)
 
Installed language(s): ca-ES
  Type : Partially localized language, LIP type.
Installed language(s): es-ES
  Type : Fully localized language.
 
Reporting distribution languages.
 
The default language in the distribution is:
es-ES

  8. Unmount the image, committing the changes.

    Dism /unmount-image /mountdir:C:\mount\windows /commit

    Your Windows image is ready to be deployed.

See Also

Concepts

Add Language Packs to Windows