Windows 10

Windows 10: Set Microsoft Store and Apps language to English (United States) and keyboard layout to Belgian (Period)

When you manually install and setup Windows 10 on a new device, you are asked to choose a default system language. Normally, you do not need to change this language settings after the initial setup but there might be some situations where you do.

I am a Belgian and my mother tongue is Dutch, but as an ITPro, I like to have my Windows 10 display language, Microsoft Store and Windows Apps language set to English (United States) with Belgian period (Azerty) as my preferred keyboard setting.

However, when you manually deploy Windows 10, with country or region set to Belgium and system language set to English (preferred language) also Nederlands (België) is installed as default language for Apps and also as the default input language.



So even if your Windows display language is set to English, whenever you open the Microsoft Store or a Windows App, the language used is Dutch.





For me this is a little bit annoying. I know this can come in handy, if you are bi-lingual and you type documents in Dutch, but also enter commands in Command Prompt in English, but for me this is not the case.

If you prefer you can set the language on a per-app basis and then Windows will remember which language you prefer to use in that particular app. There is even a keyboard shortcut if you want to switch manually between two or more languages. Just press the Left Alt + Shift keys together to switch between languages on the go.


Set Microsoft Store and Windows App language to English

Open All settings (or press the Windows key + I) to open the Windows Settings page and click Time & Language.




Select Language, and at the Preferred languages section, you can set Nederlands (België) as the second language or choose to Remove it completely (like I always do).

To be able to Remove a language you also need to set if first as the second language, otherwise you are not able to delete it.





English (United States) is now set as my default app, input and Windows display language.


Change keyboard (layout) input language to Belgian (Period)

In Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, most people work with an Azerty keyboard. However, because English (United States) is now set as my preferred and only language, the keyboard setting is set to US QWERTY.

To change the keyboard (layout) input to Azerty, select the English (United States) language and click Options.



Under the Keyboards section, click Add a keyboard and select the Belgian (Period) keyboard.




When the new keyboard is added you can remove the US (QWERTY) keyboard. To do so, select the US QWERTY keyboard and click Remove.



Now your all done. Like you can see the Windows display, Microsoft Store and Windows App language are now all set to English and you can type with your preferred Azerty keyboard settings.






Set the preferred language settings for the welcome screen, system accounts and new user accounts

To use the above settings also for your welcome screen, system accounts and new user accounts, scroll down on the Language page and open Administrative language settings.



In the Region dialog window, select the Administrative tab and click on Copy settings…



Tick the checkbox for Welcome screen and system accounts and for New user accounts to copy the Current user settings. Click OK to close.




You can always validate if both settings are e set correct, by clicking on Copy settings… again.




Summary

In this blog post I showed you how you can change your Preferred app and input language to English (United States) when your Region is set to Belgium.

As a second step I show you how to set your keyboard layout to Belgian (Period) if you are used of working with an Azerty keyboard.

As a final step, I also tell you how you can set these settings for the welcome screen, system accounts and new user accounts.

All these Windows 10 configuration steps can also be used to set other preferred languages or keyboard layouts.

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