Changing Vista HB from Chinese to English

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" <> wrote in message
news5E3DB4A-0143-42A5-99EE-...
>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
>

in XP it's Regional and Language settings in Control panel. Not sure about
Vista, but you might look for something similar

Billkalbo wrote:

> 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.

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
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

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
"olfart" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> "Billkalbo" <> wrote in message
> news5E3DB4A-0143-42A5-99EE-...
>>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
>>
>
> in XP it's Regional and Language settings in Control panel. Not sure about
> Vista, but you might look for something similar
>

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


"Malke" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Billkalbo wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> 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
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>

NO

"Billkalbo" <> wrote in message news:486409B6-4C37-47C1-9A6C-...
> 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
>
>
> "Malke" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Billkalbo wrote:
>>
>>> 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.
>>
>> 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
>> --
>> MS-MVP
>> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
>> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>>
>

On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 20:04:40 +0800, "Billkalbo" <>
wrote:

> 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.


You can't. You need an English version.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

You need to purchase an English version.

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Billkalbo" <> wrote in message
news5E3DB4A-0143-42A5-99EE-...
>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
>

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.

"Billkalbo" <> wrote in message
news5E3DB4A-0143-42A5-99EE-...
> 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
>

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


"Richard G. Harper" <> wrote in message
news:C6D79003-1B3A-481C-8D0F-...
> 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.
>
> "Billkalbo" <> wrote in message
> news5E3DB4A-0143-42A5-99EE-...
>> 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
>>