Changing Vista HB from Chinese to English

  • Thread starter Thread starter Billkalbo
  • Start date Start date
B

Billkalbo

I just bought a 2nd hand laptop with a legal version of Vista Home Basic but
the OS is in Chinese and, you guessed it, I can't read Chinese.

I want to use the home basic license and change the operating system
language to English but I would rather not do a clean install and loose all
of the manufacturers' software.

I own a copy of Vista Home Premium that is on my desktop.

How can I manage this without buying an English version of Vista? A friend
of mine has a Vista Home Basic DVD but I, of course, can't use his license.

I'm quite computer literate and if the procedure is beyond me, I have a team
of IT people who work for me but I'd rather do this myself if at all
possible.

Regards,

Kalbo
 
Billkalbo said:
I just bought a 2nd hand laptop with a legal version of Vista Home Basic
but the OS is in Chinese and, you guessed it, I can't read Chinese.

I want to use the home basic license and change the operating system
language to English but I would rather not do a clean install and loose
all of the manufacturers' software.

I own a copy of Vista Home Premium that is on my desktop.

How can I manage this without buying an English version of Vista? A friend
of mine has a Vista Home Basic DVD but I, of course, can't use his
license.

I'm quite computer literate and if the procedure is beyond me, I have a
team of IT people who work for me but I'd rather do this myself if at all
possible.

Regards,

Kalbo
Click to expand...

in XP it's Regional and Language settings in Control panel. Not sure about
Vista, but you might look for something similar
 
Billkalbo said:
I just bought a 2nd hand laptop with a legal version of Vista Home Basic
but the OS is in Chinese and, you guessed it, I can't read Chinese.

I want to use the home basic license and change the operating system
language to English but I would rather not do a clean install and loose
all of the manufacturers' software.

I own a copy of Vista Home Premium that is on my desktop.

How can I manage this without buying an English version of Vista? A friend
of mine has a Vista Home Basic DVD but I, of course, can't use his
license.

I'm quite computer literate and if the procedure is beyond me, I have a
team of IT people who work for me but I'd rather do this myself if at all
possible.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but you won't be able to do what you want. Only Vista Business and
Ultimate Editions support the Multi-Language Pack feature that would enable
you to switch to English. Contact the laptop mftr. and see if they will sell
you a recovery disc set in English. If they will, this is usually not that
expensive. Otherwise the second-hand laptop was not as good a bargain as you
thought and if you want Vista in English on it, you'll need to purchase a
full retail version. You will also need to get all the drivers for the
laptop's hardware and laptop-specific software (like power management, etc.)
from the laptop mftr.'s website.

Malke
 
Nice idea and, just for giggles, I set the regional settings to US English
but that does not effect the OS language.

It's far more complex a problem than that

Thanks

Kalbo
 
I'm not laying down that easy. I have a bunch of IT guys who I know can get
me an English recovery disk but the tricky part comes with the license. Is
there a way to use the license that came with the Chinese version to install
the English version?

Kalbo
 
NO

Billkalbo said:
I'm not laying down that easy. I have a bunch of IT guys who I know can get
me an English recovery disk but the tricky part comes with the license. Is
there a way to use the license that came with the Chinese version to install
the English version?

Kalbo
Click to expand...
 
I just bought a 2nd hand laptop with a legal version of Vista Home Basic but
the OS is in Chinese and, you guessed it, I can't read Chinese.

I want to use the home basic license and change the operating system
language to English but I would rather not do a clean install and loose all
of the manufacturers' software.

I own a copy of Vista Home Premium that is on my desktop.

How can I manage this without buying an English version of Vista? A friend
of mine has a Vista Home Basic DVD but I, of course, can't use his license.

I'm quite computer literate and if the procedure is beyond me, I have a team
of IT people who work for me but I'd rather do this myself if at all
possible.
Click to expand...


You can't. You need an English version.
 
Sorry, can't be done. Home Basic does not let you change languages. You
will need to install, clean, a copy of Windows in the preferred language.
 
Suppose a person obtained and installed Windows Vista Ultimate, then
installed all the language packs - does that enable them to change the
language of the whole OS on a whim?

Saucy
 
No. It will only change the Menu's and the language in the actual screen that is
open but not all and it certainly does not change the OS completely over to the
language that is selected. If the OS came in Chinese then the OS will stay in
Chinese. To have it changed to English (example: Registry,Event Viewer,all tools the
GUI will stay in Chinese) you need to install the English version
 
Billkalbo said:
I'm not laying down that easy. I have a bunch of IT guys who I know can
get me an English recovery disk but the tricky part comes with the
license. Is there a way to use the license that came with the Chinese
version to install the English version?

Kalbo
Click to expand...
Isn't your time and the IT guys time worth more money than the cost of
the Vista English version? Oh, and if you wait a month or so you can
install Windows 7.

Bill
 
Back
Top