As I’ve already described in one of my previous post, language pack integration could be a hell of a ride. Since Windows 10 Version 1809 Microsoft changed the way how language packs are installed. Microsoft now provides “LanguageExperiencePacks” that contain partially-localized language packs. These “LanguageExperiencePacks” that are provided as appx-packages still require base language packs.

Requirements

• VLSC W10 1909 Image: Download the Windows 10 installation media from the “Volume Licensing Service Center“. Do not download the sources from other official Microsoft sites like https://my.visualstudio.com/ . The language pack integration with dism will fail if not using a VLSC image! Example Image: SW_DVD9_Win_Pro_10_1909.3_64BIT_English_Pro_Ent_EDU_N_MLF_X22-27457.ISO
• VLSC W10 1903 Multi Language Pack: Even when installing W10 1909 the language pack for 1903 is required! Example: SW_DVD9_NTRL_Win_10_1903_32_64_ARM64_MultiLang_LangPackAll_LIP_X22-01656.ISO
• VLSC W10 1903 Features on Demand: Even when installing W10 1909 the features on demand pack for 1903 is required! Example: SW_DVD9_NTRL_Win_10_1903_64Bit_MultiLang_FOD_1_X22-01658.ISO

 

Installation Order

1. Install language packs (e.g Microsoft-Windows-Client-Language-Pack_x64_de-de.cab)
2. Restart
3. Install “LanguageExperiencePack” (e.g. LanguageExperiencePack.de-DE.Neutral.appx)
4. Activate language pack for all users (e.g.  C:\Windows\System32\control.exe intl.cpl /f:”configuartion.xml”)
5. Restart

 

Create SCCM Package

Start creating an individual SCCM package “MS_W10 1909 LanguagePack de-DE_x64_MU_01” containing all necessary content for language activation:

 Microsoft-Windows-Client-Language-Pack_x64_de-de.cab

This file was extracted from the VLSC media file “SW_DVD9_NTRL_Win_10_1903_32_64_ARM64_MultiLang_LangPackAll_LIP_X22-01656.ISO” and contains the gui translation for the german language.

 LanguageExperiencePack.de-DE.Neutral.appx

This file was extracted from the VLSC media file “SW_DVD9_NTRL_Win_10_1903_32_64_ARM64_MultiLang_LangPackAll_LIP_X22-01656.ISO” Do not forget to copy the “License.xml” file!

 Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Basic-de-de-Package[…].cab & […]Handwriting-de-de[…].cap & […]OCR-de-de[…].cap & […]Speech-de-de[…].cap & […]TextToSpeech-de-de[…].cap

These files were extracted from “SW_DVD9_NTRL_Win_10_1903_64Bit_MultiLang_FOD_1_X22-01658.ISO” and include the translation parts for different recognition parts. 

 SCCM_Install_APPX.ps1

This PowerShell Script will install the “LanguageExperiencePack.de-DE.Neutral.appx”. The script will search the root folder of the sccm package for *.appx and License.xml files. Ensure that you anly have one appx package and one License.xml file available otherwise the script will fail.

$LogFileLocation = "C:\ProgramData\SCCM_Install-LanguageExperiencePack.log"

#Start Script
Start-Transcript -path $LogFileLocation -Force

function Write-Log($string)
{
    $dateTimeNow = Get-Date -Format "dd.MM.yyyy - HH:mm:ss"
    $outStr = "" + $dateTimeNow +" "+$string
    Write-Output $outStr
}

function Get-ScriptName
{
    if ($hostinvocation -ne $null) {$hostinvocation.MyCommand.Path}
    else {$script:MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path}
}

[string]$ScriptName = Get-ScriptName
[string]$ScriptDirectory = Split-Path $ScriptName


Write-Log "------------ Start Script  ------------"
Write-Log ""
Write-Log $ScriptName
Write-Log ""
Write-Log "------------------------------------"
Write-Log "Install APPX Package"
Write-Log "------------------------------------"

$appxbundle = Get-ChildItem -Path $ScriptDirectory -Filter *.appx -ErrorAction Stop
$appxbundlepath = $ScriptDirectory + "\" + $appxbundle

Write-Log ""
Write-Log "APPX Bundle Package Path: $appxbundlepath"

$license = Get-ChildItem -Path $ScriptDirectory -Filter License.xml -ErrorAction Stop
$licensepath = $ScriptDirectory + '\' + $license

Write-Log "License File: $licensepath"

Add-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -PackagePath $appxbundlepath -Licensepath $licensepath


Write-Log ""
Write-Log "------------- End Script -------------"

Stop-Transcript

 

 SCCM_SetLangPack.ps1

This PowerShell script will search the SCCM package root folder for the file “de-DE.xml” containing the language configuration for the operating system. If you like to use a different xml file name just rewrite line 31.

$LogFileLocation = "C:\ProgramData\SCCM_SetLangPack.log"

#Start Script
Start-Transcript -path $LogFileLocation -Force

function Write-Log($string)
{
    $dateTimeNow = Get-Date -Format "dd.MM.yyyy - HH:mm:ss"
    $outStr = "" + $dateTimeNow +" "+$string
    Write-Output $outStr     
}

function Get-ScriptName
{
    if ($hostinvocation -ne $null) {$hostinvocation.MyCommand.Path}
    else {$script:MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path}
}

[string]$ScriptName = Get-ScriptName
[string]$ScriptDirectory = Split-Path $ScriptName


Write-Log "------------ Start Script  ------------"
Write-Log ""
Write-Log $ScriptName
Write-Log ""
Write-Log "------------------------------------"
Write-Log "Get Language XML Path"
Write-Log "------------------------------------"

$XMLfile = Get-ChildItem -Path $ScriptDirectory -Filter de-DE.xml -ErrorAction Stop
$XML = $ScriptDirectory + "\" + $XMLfile

Write-Log ""
Write-Log $XML
Write-Log ""

Write-Log "------------------------------------"
Write-Log "Set Language XML as Active"
Write-Log "------------------------------------"
Write-Log ""
Write-Log "Execute $env:SystemRoot\System32\control.exe intl.cpl,,/f:`"$XML`""

& $env:SystemRoot\System32\control.exe "intl.cpl,,/f:`"$XML`""

Write-Log ""
Write-Log "Start Sleep for 2 seconds"
start-sleep -seconds 2

Write-Log ""
Write-Log "------------- End Script  -------------"

Stop-Transcript

 de-DE.xml

• Set language as default language for all users
• Set the system locale to “de-DE”
• Set the GEOID to “94”
• Set “en-US” as fallback language
• Add the German keyboard layout “0407:00000407”
• Remove the English keyboard layout “0409:00000409”

<gs:GlobalizationServices xmlns:gs="urn:longhornGlobalizationUnattend"> <!--User List--> <gs:UserList> <gs:User UserID="Current" CopySettingsToDefaultUserAcct="true" CopySettingsToSystemAcct="true"/> </gs:UserList> <!-- user locale --> <gs:UserLocale> <gs:Locale Name="de-DE" SetAsCurrent="true"/> </gs:UserLocale> <!-- system locale --> <gs:SystemLocale Name="de-DE"/> <!-- GeoID --> <gs:LocationPreferences> <gs:GeoID Value="94"/> </gs:LocationPreferences> <gs:MUILanguagePreferences> <gs:MUILanguage Value="de-DE"/> <gs:MUIFallback Value="en-US"/> </gs:MUILanguagePreferences> <!-- input preferences --> <gs:InputPreferences> <!--de-DE--> <gs:InputLanguageID Action="add" ID="0407:00000407" Default="true"/> <!--en-US--> <gs:InputLanguageID Action="remove" ID="0409:00000409"/> </gs:InputPreferences> </gs:GlobalizationServices>

 

Modify Task Sequence

Get your Windows 10 deployment Task Sequence (TS) and add the following steps to your TS.

 

Fixing errors in settings menu

Right after the succesfull installation I’ve noticed several error messages in the settings menu:

 

It took me hours to figure out that the installation of the newest Cumulative Update will fix all these errors.