I recently switched my system's display language from English (US) to Japanese, and then back. Everything is normal, except when I search for settings in the Settings window or the Start menu, which is still in Japanese. I have restarted multiple times, and done everything on this page and others:

How to change system language on Windows 10 | Windows Central

Here are my language settings, region, etc:

Settings search in wrong language (and nothing else)-settings1.png
Settings search in wrong language (and nothing else)-settings2.png
Settings search in wrong language (and nothing else)-settings3.png

And yet...

Settings search in wrong language (and nothing else)-settings4.png
Settings search in wrong language (and nothing else)-settings5.png

I've even tried uninstalling the Japanese language pack, but no dice: the search remains in Japanese, as though the programs were renamed or something.

Any ideas? My version number is 20H2 build 19042.867.

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The problem has solved itself, but I don't really know why. Here's what I can tell anyone experiencing the same problem. I followed the steps from this site: Windows Search Results in Wrong Language – sumselkawumsel . I'd done all of these things before and they didn't work, but for one reason or another, this time they did?

  1. Open Control Panel (“Windows Settings”)
  2. Open “Time & Language”
  3. Click “Language” (on the left)
  4. Click “Administrative Language Settings” (on the right)
  5. A popup opened up, called “Region”. In the Tab “Administrative” and te field “Welcome screen and new user accounts”, click “Copy Settings”.
  6. Tick the boxes “Welcome screen and system accounts” and “new user accounts”.
  7. Click OK and reboot.
  8. In language settings, set the “old” language (Germany in my case) as display language, sign out of windows, sign in again.
  9. Set English as display language, sign out of windows and sign in again.


It may be that the solution only works if you do the steps in this exact order, I can't be sure. Also, when the computer asks to sign out automatically after switching the language, I said No both times, waited a few seconds, and then logged out via the Start Menu, which might be important.

There's really no logic to it, all I can say is to give it a shot... maybe multiple shots.