Change Language to English on Windows Server

Many Windows VPS are installed with Italian or another language interface. This guide shows how to switch to English (both for interface and system).

Method 1: System Settings (GUI)

Open Settings (Win + I) → Time & Language → Language
Click Add a language → search English (United States)
Click Next → select:
- ✅ Set as Windows display language
- ✅ Use as my Windows display language
Click Install
After installation, click English (United States) → Set as default
Restart to apply

Method 2: PowerShell (recommended for VPS)

# Install English language pack
Install-Language en-US

# Set English as system language
Set-SystemPreferredUILanguage en-US

# Set language for Welcome Screen and new accounts
Copy-UserInternationalSettingsToSystem -WelcomeScreen $true -NewUserAccounts $true

# Set locale and date/time formats to English
Set-WinSystemLocale en-US
Set-WinUILanguageOverride -Language en-US
Set-WinUserLanguageList -LanguageList en-US -Force
Set-Culture en-US
Set-WinHomeLocation -GeoId 244  # 244 = United States

Restart after running these commands:

Restart-Computer -Force

Method 3: Unattend.xml / sysprep (for VPS templates)

If you're preparing a Windows template to distribute already in English, use unattend.xml with:

<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" ...>
    <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
    <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
    <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
    <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
</component>

Change Keyboard Layout

Even if you change system language, keyboard layout might stay previous.

# Set English keyboard only (US)
Set-WinUserLanguageList -LanguageList en-US -Force

Or via GUI: Settings → Time & Language → Language → English (United States) → Options → Add keyboard → English (United States) QWERTY.

Change Language on Linux (bonus)

If your VPS is Linux and you want to switch to English:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# or
sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
# Select en_US.UTF-8 → choose as default

# Apply in current session
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
source /etc/default/locale

To make permanent:

echo 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8' | sudo tee /etc/default/locale
echo 'LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8' | sudo tee -a /etc/default/locale

Verify

# Windows
Get-WinSystemLocale
Get-Culture
Get-WinUILanguageOverride

# Linux
locale
echo $LANG