Product Keys and Language Versions Installing and Upgrading Vista Discuss Product Keys and Language Versions in the Windows Vista forums; Hi y'all, I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not US version Vista keys will work with other languages. I have a friend in Hong Kong and I ...

[mojavekroc]

Hi y'all,

I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not US version Vista keys will work with other languages.

I have a friend in Hong Kong and I was going to send him a retail copy of Vista but he wants to install in as Traditional Chinese. I am just not sure if you can use one language product keys for another.

Anyone know??

Thanks.

Moja..

[Znod]

Hi moja:

I always assumed that one could install using any language supported in the Vista installer's language choice screen. I have never looked to see what languages are supported.

[crabby]

The key doesnt designate the language so you should be fine

crabby

[mojavekroc]

Are you certain of this? The only reason I question it is because one of the MVP on the Vista Newsgroups said that keys are language specific. I know that with Technet keys, you can use your key for any language but why would retail be different?

Personally, I wouldn't think that it would matter, although I think that with XP it did matter.

I suppose that I could try it on a partition and just not activate the key.

[crabby]

My UK key allows any language to be used. Why doesnt he just buy it there?

crabby

[mojavekroc]

He was hoping not to have to purchase because I had a retail copy that I was going to give him.

I have been getting divided opinions on this about 50/50. Some say absolutely not and I have seen someone who said that they installed an Italian version with a US key. And then I get the language pack crowd who say that you install in english and apply a language pack, which I hear is really not the same as installing the respective language in the beginning.

Ouch... My head is starting to hurt....

Help Mr. Wizard.... Help

[Snuffy]

Originally Posted by mojavekroc

He was hoping not to have to purchase because I had a retail copy that I was going to give him.

I have been getting divided opinions on this about 50/50. Some say absolutely not and I have seen someone who said that they installed an Italian version with a US key. And then I get the language pack crowd who say that you install in english and apply a language pack, which I hear is really not the same as installing the respective language in the beginning.

Ouch... My head is starting to hurt....

Help Mr. Wizard.... Help

You might simply open the DVD and read it to see if it has Chinese included... my VOL _EN_DVD.iso version has ONLY ENGLISH.

[mojavekroc]

Hi Snuffy,

Actually what we wanted to do is use a Chinese language version for the install and use the US retail key to activate.

[Snuffy]

Installing the Chinese IME in Windows Vista NEW!

How do I install the Chinese IME in Windows Vista?

To install the Chinese IME in Windows Vista, start by opening the Control Panel.

Click the Start Button:

and chose Control Panel:

Then click the "Clock, Language and Regional" option.

You should then see the Regional and Language Options option as shown below. Under the Regional and Language Options item select Change keyboards or other input methods.

That will bring up the Keyboard and Languages tab in the Regional and Language Options dialogue. Click the Change keyboards... button:

In "Text Services and Input Languages" dialog box we need to add the Chinese IME and the Chinese Keyboard components.

Click the "Add..." button.

You should now see the "Add Input Language" dialog box.

Scroll down to the Chinese (PRC) entry, expand it and select the Chinese keyboard that you would like to use (I would recommend the Microsoft Pinyin IME is you are using Simplified Chinese) as shown below:

Finally click the "OK" button.

You should end up with a "Chinese" entry under "Installed Services".

Finally click the "OK" button.

You may be asked to put your Windows Vista CD-ROM in the CD drive so that the relevant files can be copied across to your hard drive. NOTE: You can not install the IME without the CD (please do not email me to ask..!).

That's it. You should now see the IME icon in your task bar that has a Japanese option when it is clicked... like this:

How do I use the Chinese IME in Windows Vista?

After you have select CH (Chinese) from the IME task bar menu the task bar look like this.....

If you have the Chinese IME selected as above and you right click on the CH you will bring up the Options Menu:

Choosing the Restore Language bar option will convert the IME into a floating toolbar with all the IME options visible:

Click on the Input Mode button (set to Chinese by default) will allow you to toggle the Input Mode between Pinyin and English. The keyboard shortcut for this is the left shift key.

The IME Pad button will bring up the IME Features menu. This includes hanzi by radical dialogue:

Here is a text box that will let you try the IME .

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Installing the Chinese Fonts in Windows XP

How do I install Chinese fonts in Windows XP? This is the minimum required step to run Declan's Chinese Language Learning Software in Windows XP.
Users of Windows XP do not need to download the IME - it comes on the XP installation CD and just need to be manually installed.

Open the Control Panel (Click the "Start Menu" and chose the "Control Panel").
Then click the "Date, Time, Language and Regional Options" icon.

The select the "Add Other languages" task.

You should then see the "Regional and Language Options" dialog box as shown below.
Two things need to be done here:

1. Click on the "Install files for East Asian Languages" check box
(This ensures that the correct fonts are installed).

2. Then click the "Details" button.
You should then see the "Text Services and Input Languages" dialog box.

This is all you need to do to run ReadWrite Chinese, Chinese FlashCards and our Chinese-English Dictionary- just click the OK button. You may be asked to reboot your machine.

How do I install the Chinese IME (Simplified)? While installing the Chinese fonts is sufficient if you only want to view Chinese characters in emails or when browsing the web, if you need to type in Chinese characters then you need to complete a couple of additional steps.
First return to the "Regional and Language Options" dialog box as we showed above. But this time click the "Details..." button in the "Text services and input languages" frame as shown below:

That will bring up the "Text services and input languages" dialogue box. Now we need to add the Chinese IME. Click the "Add..." button in the "Installed services" frame:

You should now see the "Add Input Language" dialog box as shown here:


Now click the "Input language" drop down box and select "Chinese (PRC)".
While there are a number of other Chinese choices for Simplified Mandarin Chinese we recommend this one for its functionality and ease of use.

BTW - PRC stands for Peoples' Republic of China.



Once you have select "Chinese PRC" click the "OK" button.


Now you should see "Chinese (PRC)" as one of the listed Installed Services. Click the "OK" or "Apply" button to finish.


You may be asked to put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive so that the relevant files can be copied across to your hard drive. PLEASE NOTE: You can not install the IME without the CD (please do not email me to ask..!).

Now we are ready to take the Chinese IME for a spin.
All installed IMEs are accessed through the the Windows Icon Tray. Here we see the EN signifying that the English Input Method is active.

To view the other installed IMEs simply click in the EN icon. You should then see a popup listing all the other languages installed. Below we see in addition to several others we have the Chinese (PRC) IME available.

If you go ahead a click the Chinese (PRC) item in the IME popup menu you will see a new active IME icon will display - namely the Chinese (PRC) IME signified by the CH icon.

NOTE: The Chinese IME will only become active if there is software running in the foreground and active that will accept Chinese input.

Here is a text box that will let you try: .

You can view the full IME menu bar by right clicking on the Chinese IME (CH) icon. An option popup will appear with a "Restore the Language bar" item. Select this and the IME menu bar will appear...

Here is what the IME menu bar will look like - floating some where on your Windows desktop.

Now we are ready to use the IME....

[felix8406]

Here's a document that my or not answer some questions. I just glanced through it as I don't have much time to read the whole thing.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=6&gl=us