OK! Select Language: English (United Kingdom), English (United States)

clayto said:

It can be hard, indeed impossible, to change. Several keys on my KB remain wrong if set to English instead of USA --- unless someone can show me how to fix it. My local technician couldn't.

If your keyboard doesn't match the selected language it will never happen. If you want your language to be English US you need a US keyboard.

alphanumeric said:

If your keyboard doesn't match the selected language it will never happen. If you want your language to be English US you need a US keyboard.

That is absolutely not true. Totally wrong information which needs to be corrected. A fact check before posting is always recommended, especially when using such strong statements as "... it will never happen".

The PC in general and Windows in particular has no need to know and recognize the actual physical layout of the attached physical keyboard device. For Windows it is totally irrelevant, you can use any localized physical keyboard device to type using any Windows input language.

Using myself as an example, all my physical keyboards are either US or German but my default input language (my chosen Windows keyboard layout) on all computers is Finnish. This computer I am using to compose this reply has display language (Windows system language) British English, input language Finnish, and the physical keyboard is US English Logitech MK-710.

I am I would like to say extremely experienced in using multilingual Windows, I know how it works.

For me it is not a problem that my physical keyboard layout do not match my chosen input method. In case of this particular computer now, my physical keyboard looks like this (screenshots using on-screen keyboard to show an example):

A US English physical keyboard layout.

But, I am using it at this very moment to type using Finnish input language which has the layout shown below:

There's a simple reason I use Finnish input language as default: with it I can type all other languages I need on daily basis (Finnish, Swedish, English) except German; when typing in German there are two letters I can only type selecting German input language, Ü and ß. These two I get using my US English keyboard device from [{ and -_.

When typing English with my Finnish input language with physical US keyboard, I just have to know and remember that all special characters are typed as in Finnish keyboard, not as in US keyboard. For instance although my physical keyboard shows that to get @ sign I need to press SHIFT + 2, I know that I need AltGr + 2 instead to get the @ sign. Or, to get parenthesis ( and ) which according to my physical US keyboard would be SHIFT + 9 and SHIFT + 0, I need to press SHIFT + 8 and SHIFT + 9 instead.

Further, I need to remember that colon and semicolon key on my physical US keyboard now types ö and Ö as in Finnish layout, the ' and " key gives me ä and Ä, the [ and { key å and Å, and so on. This is not difficult especially if you do not need to watch the keyboard while typing, the only important thing being to remember which Windows input language I am currently using.

When I use German QWERTZ input method with US QWERTY physical keyboard, I need to remember that pressing Z on my keyboard types Y, and vice versa. In addition, now I get @ sign with AltGR + Q although my physical keyboard shows it being SHIFT + 2.

All the above put very short: The keyboard device's physical layout has nothing to do with the Windows input language. All localized physical keyboard devices can be used to type any chosen Windows input language. You can buy a French AZERTY keyboard device to be used with German QWERTZ input language.

Kari

clayto said:

It can be hard, indeed impossible, to change. Several keys on my KB remain wrong if set to English instead of USA --- unless someone can show me how to fix it. My local technician couldn't.

As I told in my previous post, the physical layout of your keyboard device has nothing to do with your chosen Windows input language. Every input language can be typed with every localized keyboard device. If someone tells you anything else, that simply is not true and you should ignore it.

Your issue is most often caused by not being thorough with input language settings. See this post in another thread for how to override the Windows 10 default input language: Keyboard Input Priority - Windows 10 Forums

We will get it working for you. Try the above first to override the default input language, come back to tell if it helped or not.

The most important thing to realize and remember is that using different input language than your physical keyboard device, the keys on device do not always match those typed. I am using all the input languages shown in screenshot below and I can guarantee you I don't have to change my physical keyboard device every time I change the input language:

Kari

My location/region is set to Canada, my installed language is English US. Cortana would not work, even if I changed my location to US. I was prompted to select a language she could speak. The only option in the drop down was English US. I had to download and install the English Canada language pack and Speech pack. Then go Settings > Time & Language > Speech > Choose the language you speak with your device, and set it to English Canada. Cortana then worked. I set my language back to English US, Settings > Time & Language > Region and language >Language settings and Cortana continued to work. I then uninstalled the English Canada Language pack, but leaving the speech part still installed. Cortana works and my keyboard keys all line up. There may be an easier way, but that's how it unfolded for me.

clayto said:

Thanks for the response. I am not quite clear about this. Are you saying that if I override the default language and replace it with English UK, then if I select English UK keyboard it wil NOT affect the keyboard's function, eg.it will NOT print # when I click @? I have just returned (again) the keyboard to working correctly (as I call it) and I dont want to mess it up yet again. It is important to me that clicking @ does print @, etc.

Also (sorry about this) are you saying that this override procedure will not upset Cortana so that she refuses to work?

These are the two essential issues (1) the keyboard is correct (2) Cortana works.

This is basically quite simple:

• If you have UK English physical keyboard device and Windows input language set to UK English, all characters are typed as shown on keys on your keyboard
• If you have US English physical keyboard device and Windows input language set to UK English (or any other not matching physical keyboard / Windows input language combination), some characters will not be typed as shown on the keys. An example: US keyboard device shows the @ sign on the number key 2, and it is typed in US English input language with SHIFT + 2, but a UK English input method user gets a " from that same key. The fact that the key on keyboard shows @ is irrelevant because the chosen input method is different than physical keyboard device, therefore in this example you get " from that key

If you are unsure, if your physical keyboard device is not that of your chosen Windows input method, open an on-screen keyboard to compare them and see what key produces what character.

Real life example:

My US physical keyboard device, and a few examples of the above using it with my chosen Windows input language Finnish. Took the photo just now, sorry about how dirty the keyboard is . Numbers in picture refer to explanations below the picture:

1. My Logitech American layout keyboard device shows that the & sign is SHIFT + 7, however I get / with that keyboard combination as in Finnish layout. To get & sign I need SHIFT + 6 instead
2. My keyboard device shows that the key #2 in picture above gives [ and {, however I get å and Å from that key
3. My keyboard device shows that key #3 in picture gives ; and :, however I get ö and Ö from that key
4. My keyboard device shows that SHIFT + key #4 in picture gives <, however I get semicolon ; from that key combination
5. My keyboard device shows that SHIFT + key #5 in picture gives >, however I get colon : from that key combination

What is written on a key on the physical keyboard device has absolutely nothing to do with what is typed with that key in Windows. The deciding factor is what input method is selected in Windows.

About Cortana, it needs computer location and display language to match (speech for that language must be installed). I have absolutely no Cortana issues, having UK English Windows 10 display language, location set to United Kingdom, using Finnish input language with a physical American keyboard device, being physically in Germany.

Kari