Hi David,
I really would advise against editing the registry unless you have the knowledge to recover from a failure.
The consequences of a ‘bad’ edit are " The Windows registry is a powerful tool that can be used to fix severe problems. But it can also cause severe problems. One wrong edit, in the wrong entry, can render a Windows machine unusable or worse – unbootable." as detailed here:
If the worst should happen Amazon or the supplier will not be interested at all!
The safest option would be to take the laptop to a local computer shop, where the resident geek could probably make the change.
However if you really want to go ahead, you must backup the registry to a USB drive:
Type “regedit” to open the registry editor and press Enter. You must use the "Run as administrator’ option, then click File > Export. In the dialogue box, enter a name for the backup file (for example “reg20211127”), select the location where you want to export registry file (the USB drive) and click Save to create and save the backup.
Once the registry has been backed up, you can manually scroll through the registry to find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Language\InstallLanguage
Hi David, There is a good walkhrough which addresses the install language problem you have, it may be of some help to you, I managed to change a dual boot intel tablet from chinese to english a while ago using this tutorial. How to change system language on Windows 10 | Windows Central
Thanks @digitracker , I have had a quick look through all those steps and it does look very much like what I have already done successfully to get English listed as my preferred (only) language. By this means I have got this qwerty keyboard accepted, but still Firefox and Google for instance appear in French.
I have tried using ‘help’ in both those and not sure about Google yet but Firefox continues to address me in French, despite apparently accepting the change.
Is it the same, limited, thing and also is it safer than what Nigel pointed to and also what opinion do you @Nigel-at-BUF-House and @NotALot think about it?
I am willing to try anything that is risk free but feel that if there is any doubt my best bet is to see what the supplier says about the problem. They may advise something along those lines (in which case I am covered under warranty) or perhaps suggest sending it back to them to do or replace. After all, as a Spanish compoany in Spain, they presumably have already done something similar in reconditioning it for the French market.
Something is seriously amiss here, not only has Nigel’s original advice been repeated under my banner but my reply to @digitracker appears to be triplicated. Also my reply to Nigel has a different format.
Is it this computer or the forum? @james
@digitracker & @toryroo Well Google I had already managed to change, just hadn’t checked it when I wrote the last post (Last Post I was beginning to think it was the Last Post for me ) and I think I have managed to change Firefox now as well, can’t see what I did differently from before though.
But, a small but, and hardly annoying, the spellchecker still seems to be French
Let’s check - Je crois ca marche maintenant. Most of it is underlined in red but so is the ca in the previous sentence. Bizarre.
@David you are getting there, I dont use a spellchecker so cant help you there. @toryroo I too dont use chrome or anything google related, I find google is too pervasive and I find using the browser a bad experience with all the ads that are shoved at you incessantly.
I use pi-hole on a spare raspberry pi and ads are cut off at router level, I was just saying that of all the browsers that I have used, google chrome seems to be far the worst at shoving ads all over websites. I use waterfox as my day to day browser, it comes with adblocker enabled by default.
I don’t use a spellchecker either, but it is obviously there in the background somewhere. As to Google, I use that only as my search engine, Firefox is my navigator and I have been happy with that but it has just thrown up another problem.
When I first set up this new computer I plugged in my no. 1 external drive ‘Sonnics’ on which is all my banking and other stuff, photos etc. No problem other than clearing a pop up, which is normal since I changed, on advice, from Open to Libre Office.
Then, at some point yesterday I plugged it in again and the pop up was different and offered Firefox as a means of opening it. As I trust Firefox I clicked ok, now all I get when I try to do it is this:
And I can’t progress from that. I have downloaded Libre Office all to no avail. I tried to download something from Microsoft apps but it is so many years since I had to contact them that my password doesn’t work anymore. Getting a new password was interrupted by the fact that a promised code emailed to me didn’t arrive for several hours.
The bizarre thing is that I can access my sonnics drives, but only with the old laptop, which I am trying to consign to history.
The operating system doesn’t know what application to use by default for you documents (.ods format) and is asking what you want to do. If you click on the box with Firefox it should open a drop-down list of applications. Select libre office from the list and click ok. If that works ok then close it, blgo back and do it again, ticking the ‘alwayd use’ box so this doesn’t keep happening.
Thanks AM, I am advancing ever so gradually, however much it is giving me a headache. Can’t understand why it allowed Sonnics at first then changed its mind.
Still loads of wiggly red lines under everything, even though with the help of Mr. Google I have turned the spellchecker off . Perhaps it is necessary to reboot, trouble is this makes all my painfully re-entered Firefox tabs disappear, unlike the laptop.
There should be a setting in firefox preferences “open previous windows and tabs” that needs to be checked so it keeps everything you previously had open.
You can migrate EVERYTHING from firefox on one machine to another, cookies, passwords etc. Google is your friend for this, but it’s not difficult
I was beginning to think it was the Last Post for me 
) and I think I have managed to change Firefox now as well, can’t see what I did differently from before though.
