Release Notes for

Microsoft Windows Multilingual User Interface Pack

for

Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Server 2003, Standard Edition

Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Server 2003, Web Edition

 March 2003

 


Welcome to the release notes for Microsoft Windows Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI).  This document provides late-breaking or other information that supplements the Windows Server 2003 documentation.  There are several release notes files on the MUI compact disc:

·         Readme.htm (important pre-installation information)

·         MSINotes.htm (information about MUI Windows Installer packages)

RelNotes.htm (this file, compatibility and post-installation notes)

 


POST INSTALLATION AND UPGRADE NOTES


Known issues

 

1.               Only users with administrative privileges can setup the MUI packages.

2.               If you just have one extra user interface (UI) language added into a system and this UI language is the currently set default UI language, you won’t be able to use MUISetup.exe to switch UI language back to English after the UI language is uninstalled. You should either switch the default user’s UI language back to English before removing the only extra UI language or use the Regional Options in the Control Panel to change it.

3.               If you want to have all performance counter information displayed with localized strings, install all Windows components with performance counters before installing MUI. 

4.               MUI installation may fail if configured in partition that had a previous installation of Windows.  It is recommended to format the partition before starting the Windows Server 2003 installation, then installing MUI.

5.               Rebooting is recommended after installing the MUI packages for the East Asian languages.

6.               German and Japanese MUI Windows Server 2003 Beta3 users are recommended to remove all MUI packages before upgrading to the final release.  If you have upgraded without removing the MUI packages you may need to install and remove the MUI package from a new account with administrative rights.

 

Setting the "Language for non-Unicode programs"

 

If you will be running non-Unicode programs on the MUI system, you should set the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to match the language of the non-Unicode programs. Since this is a system-wide setting, only one non-Unicode language is supported on a system.

 

This setting is not required for Unicode programs, but setting it to match the language of the running programs may still improve application compatibility.  You can change the "Language for non-Unicode programs" setting in Regional and Language Options in the Control Panel.

 

Not all UI strings are localized

 

Some UI strings will remain in English even if the UI is set to another language.  This is because certain strings in some component areas do not work with MUI yet due to the complexity of the technologies.  The main areas include: all 16-bit programs, registry keys and values, and strings in INF files.  This affects about 3% of the Windows UI – mainly in administrative tools.  Localized Windows Server 2003 systems have all of these strings translated.

 

Fonts used in the UI are not always the same as localized Windows Server 2003

 

You may notice that the UI text for certain languages displays poorly on machines on which multiple UI languages are in use.  This is most visible when the "Language for non-Unicode programs" is set to Chinese and the current user's UI language is Japanese.  The solution is to switch the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to match the UI language. If you have users of all 4 East Asian UI languages working on the same machine, we recommend you initially set the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to Japanese and then change back to US English or keep it as Japanese.

 

Outlook Express

 

The UI language of Outlook Express will change only when the "Language for non-Unicode programs" matches the UI language.

Folders created in Outlook Express will not switch language. Outlook Express should be configured after the preferred UI language has been set.

 

Server Appliance Kit (SAK) languages selection

 

The Server Appliance Kit (SAK) UI language doesn't follow the system UI language.  Administrators can change the SAK language in the SAK language settings on the Maintenance tab of the SAK web interface.

For detailed instructions on how to set the SAK language please refer to the SAK help.

 

Recommendations for using MUI systems and localized Windows systems together

 

1.      Use English computer names on localized versions of Windows XP/Windows 2000/Windows Server 2003, otherwise DS & Group policy will fail if localized machine names are used in a multilingual environment.

2.      As a precaution, do the following:

a.      Logon locally to the DC as Administrator

b.      Run dsa.msc

c.      Right click on the domain node, choose Properties

d.      Click on Group Policy Tab, select "the Default Domain Group Policy"

e.      Disable the following policy (i.e., set State=Disable):
User Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Group Policy\Disable Automatic Update of ADM files
For detailed information, please see KB article: Q286012

3.      Synchronize the time of the client machine with the DC's time.
Note: If you do this manually, please check the time zone! (We recommend the "net time /DOMAIN:domainname /set" command)
Reason: Machine Policy may fail if time is skewed.

4.      We do not recommend using folder redirection or logon to the localized Windows systems as a roaming user.
If you need to roam or use folder redirection policy, be aware that multiple language versions of My Documents and other per-user folders could be created on the machine. You will also have to manually add other language support (such as East Asian) to the system in order for these localized folder names to be displayed properly. If you use the same UI language across different MUI machines, this should not be an issue.

 

Using DCPromo and other server tools

 

When running DCPromo, or installing server applications, we recommend you set both the default and the interactive user UI language to English.

 

For example, if you set the default user's UI language to one of the European languages and run DCPromo, the well-known security principals (mostly under the Built-in container in AD Users & Computers) are created using the localized names from this language. This may cause difficulty for users that do not understand the language.  Keeping the UI in English when running DCPromo leaves these names in English.

 

Improving localized application compatibility

 

The MUISetup.exe program contains three settings to help configure an MUI system to most closely match a localized Windows system. If you want an MUI system to provide maximum application compatibility for a single language, you can set all these three settings to the same language.  However, you should be aware of the side-effects of applying these settings when evaluating whether or not to use them.

 

1.      Language for default user and new user account
This is a system-wide setting that specifies the UI language for the default user account as well as any new user accounts created thereafter. This setting affects the logon screen UI language and the language for other services running on the machine. Setting this language to match the application's language sometimes can improve some localized applications' compatibility. You can also set the default user's UI language from the Advanced tab in Regional and Language Options in Control Panel.

2.      Match the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to the default user language
This setting will force the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to be the same as the default user's UI language. Select this check box if you want to run non-Unicode programs in the specified language. This setting affects all users of the computer and only one non-Unicode language can be set on a machine. Setting the language for non-Unicode programs can improve application compatibility for some Unicode applications as well. You can also set the language for non-Unicode programs from the Advanced tab in Regional and Language Options in Control Panel.

3.      Set Shell UI font to match the default user's UI language
This setting specifies whether you want the display fonts used on the desktop to match the default user's UI language. This setting is only available when the previous two settings are set. At this release, this setting only affects Japanese. Specifying this setting can cause other UI languages to display poorly. Clear this checkbox if anyone working on this computer uses a language other than Japanese. Setting this option will improve the application compatibility for some localized programs. This setting can only be changed within MUIsetup.

 

Components that do not switch User Interface language

 

The following components do not switch User Interface language:

  NetMeeting

  Portions of Internet Connection Wizard

  HyperTerminal

 

Help and Support Center on Datacenter Edition and 64-bit platforms

 

Help and Support Center (HSC) is only localized in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish on Datacenter Edition and in French, German and Japanese on 64-bit platforms.  On Datacenter Edition and 64-bit platforms, HSC will display in English for the other MUI server languages.  If you install the languages with localized HSC with some of the other languages and the current User UI is set to one of the languages that doesn't include localized HSC, HSC may display in the wrong language instead of English.  You can switch to the English HSC version using the HSC Option page.

 

To switch to the English Help and Support Center version:

 

1. Click the Options button on the on the Help and Support Center navbar (last item on the navbar).

2. Select Install and Share Windows Help in the left panel (last item).

3. Choose Switch from one operating system's Help content to another in the right panel (first item).
4. Choose the English version from the list (normally the first item).
5. Click the switch button (the button under the available HSC system list).
6. Close HSC and launch again.

 

Other minor issues

 

1.      MMC: When saving an MMC console file, please use Latin characters only in the filename. Using characters outside the system code page will cause the help file not to display.

2.      Uninstalling MUI:  If you decide to uninstall a UI language in use by the current user, you must reboot the system to ensure the language is completely removed or set the UI language back to English first and then uninstall the UI language.

3.      Simplified Chinese UI: The original WangMa IME 98 cannot be installed on Simplified Chinese UI. Please contact the software vendor to get an updated version.

4.      Start menu items: If you upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003 some items under Start menu will not switch language. To fix this, you must set all the program folders under your personal document folder to READONLY after upgrading to Windows Server 2003 and before installing MUI. You can try the following commands to fix them:

a.      From the Windows Start menu, select Run and type “CMD.EXE”. The Command Prompt should start under your user's document folder, such as C:\Documents and Settings\User

b.      Type the following commands in Command Prompt:

                                                              i .      CD "Start Menu"

                                                             ii.      CD "Programs"

                                                           iii.      Attrib /s /d +r

c.      This needs to be done for all the folders under "Programs" and for all user accounts in the machine.

5.      Console programs: you may sometimes see strings appear as "???" from console programs. We recommend setting the "Language or non-Unicode programs" to match the User Interface language (also called "menu and dialog language") to resolve this problem.

6.      Help content displayed by the non-HTML Help system (or Winhlp32.exe): When "Language for non-Unicode programs" does not match the User Interface language, you may see following two issues with content displayed by the old Windows help system:

a.      Word wrapping for long strings in context sensitive help in dialogs may not match localized Windows systems for some languages. This should not prevent you from reading the dialog.

b.      The title of help window may be unreadable.

7.      HTML Help: If the user name includes characters that are not supported by both the “Language for non-Unicode programs” and language of the “Standards and formats”, you may not be able to open some help contents. The workaround is to either use Latin characters for usernames or set both settings to a language that supports the characters in the user name, such as setting them as Japanese if you have Japanese characters in the user name.

8.      Help for optional Windows components: to get localized help for these components, you need to install the component before installing MUI or re-install MUI after installing the component.

9.      Narrator supports English only: Due to technological limitations, the Narrator text-to-speech engine only works with English strings and English UI.

 

Copyright


This document provides late-breaking or other information that supplements the documentation provided on the US English OS CD of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack.

Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice and is provided for informational purposes only. The entire risk of the use or results of the use of this document remains with the user, and Microsoft Corporation makes no warranties, either express or implied. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

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