When you start an Office program, it reads the Windows registry to determine certain default language-based behavior. You can customize the default installation language by specifying language options on the Change Office User Settings page in the Custom Installation Wizard. This article describes how you can customize the installation language used when deploying Office XP.

Customize Installation Language When Deploying Office

The first time you run an Office program after installing Office, the following subkey is created in the Windows registry: Also, when Office programs run, they read value entries in the LanguageResources subkey to determine language-related default behavior.

For example:

• Microsoft Word checks locale ID (LCID) value entries and turns on its language auto-detection feature for languages that are enabled for editing.
• Word checks the InstallLanguage value entry to determine how to create its global template (the Normal.dot file).

Rather than having Office create the LanguageResources subkey, you can specify language settings in the Custom Installation Wizard and deploy them as part of your Office XP installation. If Office detects that the language settings are already defined (in the LanguageResources subkey), Office will not override the existing settings the first time an Office program runs.

To customize the installation language when deploying Office, follow these steps:

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, click Next until you reach the Change Office User Settings page, and then click Microsoft Office XP (User).
2. Expand the Language Settings folder and then expand the Enabled Languages folder.
3. Double-click Installed version of Microsoft Office to open the Properties page for this setting.
4. Click Apply Changes. Select a language from the Installed version of Microsoft Office list.
5. Click OK.

NOTE: You can specify other language feature settings, such as choosing languages to be enabled for editing, under Language Settings.