How to Restrict User Locales for Date and Time Formats in Windows
The user locale is the locale (language) that the user wants to use to display date and time formats for their account in Windows.
If you like, you can restrict users to a specified list of user locales. Only locales in the specified locale list can be selected by users. Restricting user locales does not change existing user locale settings; however, the next time a user attempts to change their user locale, their choices will be restricted to locales in this list.
This tutorial will show you how to restrict user locales used to display date and time formats for specific or all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
You must be signed in as an administrator to restrict user locales.
Here is a list of the default locales (languages) and their language tags users can select. You will need to know the language tags in the table below for the user locales (languages) you want to restrict to using in the tutorial steps below.
Language Location (or type) Language tag Afar Djibouti aa-DJ Afar Eritrea aa-ER Afar Ethiopia aa-ET Afrikaans Namibia af-NA Afrikaans South Africa af-ZA Aghem Cameroon agq-CM Akan Ghana ak-GH Albanian Albania sq-AL Albanian Kosovo Albanian Macedonia, FYRO sq-MK Alsatian France gsw-FR Amharic Ethiopia am-ET Arabic Algeria ar-DZ Arabic Bahrain ar-BH Arabic Chad ar-TD Arabic Comoros ar-KM Arabic Djibouti ar-DJ Arabic Egypt ar-EG Arabic Eritrea ar-ER Arabic Iraq ar-IQ Arabic Israel ar-IL Arabic Jordan ar-JO Arabic Kuwait ar-KW Arabic Lebanon ar-LB Arabic Libya ar-LY Arabic Mauritania ar-MR Arabic Morocco ar-MA Arabic Oman ar-OM Arabic Palestinian Authority ar-PS Arabic Qatar ar-QA Arabic Saudi Arabia ar-SA Arabic Somalia ar-SO Arabic South Sudan ar-SS Arabic Sudan ar-SD Arabic Syria ar-SY Arabic Tunisia ar-TN Arabic United Arab Emirates ar-AE Arabic World ar-001 Arabic Yemen ar-YE Armenian Armenia hy-AM Assamese India as-IN Asturian Spain ast-ES Asu Tanzania asa-TZ Azerbaijani (Cyrillic) Azerbaijan az-Cyrl-AZ Azerbaijani (Latin) Azerbaijan az-Latn-AZ Bafia Cameroon ksf-CM Bamanankan (Latin) Mali bm-Latn-ML Bangla Bangladesh bn-BD Bangla India bn-IN Basaa Cameroon bas-CM Bashkir Russia ba-RU Basque eu Belarusian Belarus be-BY Bemba Zambia bem-ZM Bena Tanzania bez-TZ Blin Eritrea byn-ER Bodo India brx-IN Bosnian (Cyrillic) Bosnia and Herzegovina bs-Cyrl-BA Bosnian (Latin) Bosnia and Herzegovina bs-Latn-BA Breton France br-FR Bulgarian Bulgaria bg-BG Burmese Myanmar my-MM Catalan Andorra ca-AD Catalan France ca-FR Catalan Italy ca-IT Central Atlas Tamazight (Arabic) Morocco Central Atlas Tamazight (Latin) Algeria Central Atlas Tamazight (Latin) Morocco tzm-Latn-MA Central Atlas Tamazight (Tifinagh) Morocco Central Kurdish Iraq ku-Arab-IQ Chechen Russia cd-RU Cherokee United States chr-Cher-US Chiga Uganda cgg-UG Chinese (Simplified) China zh-CN Chinese (Simplified Han) Hong Kong SAR Chinese (Simplified Han) Macao SAR Chinese (Simplified) Singapore zh-SG Chinese (Traditional) Hong Kong SAR zh-HK Chinese (Traditional) Macao SAR zh-MO Chinese (Traditional) Taiwan zh-TW Church Slavic Russia cu-RU Colognian Germany Cornish United Kingdom kw-GB Corsican France co-FR Croatian Bosnia and Herzegovina hr-BA Croatian Croatia hr-HR Czech Czechia cs-CZ Danish Denmark da-DK Danish Greenland da-GL Dari Afghanistan prs-AF Divehi Maldives dv-MV Duala Cameroon dua-CM Dutch Aruba nl-AW Dutch Belgium nl-BE Dutch Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba nl-BQ Dutch Curaçao nl-CW Dutch Netherlands nl-NL Dutch Sint Maarten nl-SX Dutch Suriname nl-SR Dzongkha Bhutan dz-BT Edo Nigeria Embu Kenya ebu-KE English American Samoa en-AS English Anguilla en-AI English Antigua and Barbuda en-AG English Australia en-AU English Austria en-AT English Bahamas en-BS English Barbados en-BB English Belgium en-BE English Belize en-BZ English Bermuda en-BM English Botswana en-BW English British Indian Ocean Territory en-IO English British Virgin Islands en-VG English Burundi en-BI English Cameroon en-CM English Canada en-CA English Caribbean en-029 English Cayman Islands en-KY English Christmas Island en-CX English Cocos [Keeling] Islands en-CC English Cook Islands en-CK English Cyprus en-CY English Denmark en-DK English Dominica en-DM English Eritrea en-ER English Europe en-150 English Falkland Islands en-FK English Fiji en-FJ English Finland en-FI English Gambia en-GM English Germany en-DE English Ghana en-GH English Gibraltar en-GI English Grenada en-GD English Guam en-GU English Guernsey en-GG English Guyana en-GY English Hong Kong SAR en-HK English India en-IN English Indonesia English Ireland en-IE English Isle of Man en-IM English Israel en-IL English Jamaica en-JM English Jersey en-JE English Kenya en-KE English Kiribati en-KI English Lesotho en-LS English Liberia en-LR English Macao SAR en-MO English Madagascar en-MG English Malawi en-MW English Malaysia en-MY English Malta en-MT English Marshall Islands en-MH English Mauritius en-MU English Micronesia en-FM English Montserrat en-MS English Namibia en-NA English Nauru en-NR English Netherlands en-NL English New Zealand en-NZ English Nigeria en-NG English Niue en-NU English Norfolk Island en-NF English Northern Mariana Islands en-MP English Pakistan en-PK English Palau en-PW English Papua New Guinea en-PG English Philippines en-PH English Pitcairn Islands en-PN English Puerto Rico en-PR English Rwanda en-RW English Saint Kitts and Nevis en-KN English Saint Lucia en-LC English Saint Vincent and the Grenadines en-VC English Samoa en-WS English Seychelles en-SC English Sierra Leone en-SL English Singapore en-SG English Sint Maarten en-SX English Slovenia en-SI English Solomon Islands en-SB English South Africa en-ZA English South Sudan en-SS English St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha en-SH English Sudan en-SD English Swaziland en-SZ English Sweden en-SE English Switzerland en-CH English Tanzania en-TZ English Tokelau en-TK English Tonga en-TO English Trinidad and Tobago en-TT English Turks and Caicos Islands en-TC English Tuvalu en-TV English Uganda en-UG English United Kingdom en-GB English United States en-US English U.S. Outlying Islands en-UM English U.S. Virgin Islands en-VI English Vanuatu en-VU English World en-001 English Zambia en-ZM English Zimbabwe en-ZW Esperanto World eo-001 Estonian Estonia et-EE Ewe Ghana ee-GH Ewe Togo ee-TG Ewondo Cameroon ewo-CM Faroese Denmark fo-DK Faroese Faroe Islands fo-FO Filipino Philippines fil-PH Finnish Finland fi-FI French Algeria fr-DZ French Belgium fr-BE French Benin fr-BJ French Burkina Faso fr-BF French Burundi fr-BI French Cameroon fr-CM French Canada fr-CA French Central African Republic fr-CF French Chad fr-TD French Comoros fr-KM French Congo fr-CG French Congo, DRC fr-CD French Côte d'Ivoire fr-CI French Djibouti fr-DJ French Equatorial Guinea fr-GQ French France fr-FR French French Guiana fr-GF French French Polynesia fr-PF French Gabon fr-GA French Guadeloupe fr-GP French Guinea fr-GN French Haiti fr-HT French Luxembourg fr-LU French Madagascar fr-MG French Mali fr-ML French Martinique fr-MQ French Mauritania fr-MR French Mauritius fr-MU French Mayotte fr-YT French Morocco fr-MA French New Caledonia fr-NC French Niger fr-NE French Principality of Monaco fr-MC French Reunion fr-RE French Rwanda fr-RW French Saint Barthélemy fr-BL French Saint Martin fr-MF French Saint Pierre and Miquelon fr-PM French Senegal fr-SN French Seychelles fr-SC French Switzerland fr-CH French Syria fr-SY French Togo fr-TG French Tunisia fr-TN French Vanuatu fr-VU French Wallis and Futuna fr-WF Friulian Italy fur-IT Fulah Cameroon ff-CM Fulah Guinea ff-GN Fulah (Latin) Senegal ff-Latn-SN Fulah Mauritania ff-MR Fulah Nigeria Galician gl Ganda Uganda lg-UG Georgian Georgia ka-GE German Austria de-AT German Belgium de-BE German Germany de-DE German Italy de-IT German Liechtenstein de-LI German Luxembourg de-LU German Switzerland de-CH Greek Cyprus el-CY Greek Greece el-GR Greenlandic Greenland kl-GL Guarani Paraguay gn-PY Gujarati India gu-IN Gusii Kenya guz-KE Hausa (Latin) Ghana ha-Latn-GH Hausa (Latin) Niger ha-Latn-NE Hausa (Latin) Nigeria ha-Latn-NG Hawaiian United States haw-US Hebrew Israel he-IL Hindi India hi-IN Hungarian Hungary hu-HU Icelandic Iceland is-IS Igbo Nigeria ig-NG Indonesian Indonesia id-ID Interlingua France ia-FR Interlingua World ia-001 Inuktitut (Latin) Canada iu-Latn-CA Inuktitut (Syllabics) Canada iu-Cans-CA Irish Ireland ga-IE isiXhosa South Africa isiZulu South Africa Italian Italy it-IT Italian San Marino it-SM Italian Switzerland it-CH Italian Vatican City it-VA Japanese Japan ja-JP Javanese Indonesia jv-ID Javanese Javanese, Indonesia Jola-Fonyi Senegal dyo-SN Kabuverdianu Cabo Verde kea-CV Kabyle Algeria kab-DZ Kako Cameroon kkj-CM Kalenjin Kenya kln-KE Kamba Kenya kam-KE Kannada India kn-IN Kanuri Nigeria Kashmiri Devanagari Kashmiri Perso-Arabic ks-Arab Kazakh Kazakhstan kk-KZ Khmer Cambodia km-KH K'iche Guatemala quc-Latn-GT Kikuyu Kenya ki-KE Kinyarwanda Rwanda rw-RW Kiswahili Congo DRC Kiswahili Kenya sw-KE Kiswahili Tanzania sw-TZ Kiswahili Uganda sw-UG Konkani India kok-IN Korean Korea ko-KR Korean North Korea ko-KP Koyraboro Senni Mali ses-ML Koyra Chiini Mali khq-ML Kurdish Perso-Arabic, Iran ku-Arab-IR Kwasio Cameroon nmg-CM Kyrgyz Kyrgyzstan ky-KG Lakota United States lkt-US Langi Tanzania lag-TZ Lao Laos lo-LA Latin World Latvian Latvia lv-LV Lingala Angola ln-AO Lingala Central African Republic ln-CF Lingala Congo ln-CG Lingala Congo DRC ln-CD Lithuanian Lithuania lt-LT Low German Germany nds-DE Low German Netherlands nds-NL Luba-Katanga Congo DRC lu-CD Luo Kenya luo-KE Luxembourgish Luxembourg lb-LU Luyia Kenya luy-KE Macedonian Macedonia, FYRO mk-MK Machame Tanzania jmc-TZ Makhuwa-Meetto Mozambique mgh-MZ Makonde Tanzania kde-TZ Malagasy Madagascar mg-MG Malayalam India ml-IN Malay Brunei ms-BN Malay Malaysia ms-MY Malay Singapore Maltese Malta mt-MT Manipuri India Manx Isle of Man gv-IM Maori New Zealand mi-NZ Mapudungun Chile arn-CL Marathi India mr-IN Masai Kenya mas-KE Masai Tanzania mas-TZ Mazanderani Iran mzn-IR Meru Kenya mer-KE Meta' Cameroon mgo-CM Mohawk moh Mongolian (Cyrillic) Mongolia mn-MN Mongolian (Traditional Mongolian) China mn-Mong-CN Mongolian (Traditional Mongolian) Mongolia mn-Mong-MN Morisyen Mauritius mfe-MU Mundang Cameroon mua-CM Nama Namibia naq-NA Nepali India ne-IN Nepali Nepal ne-NP Ngiemboon Cameroon nnh-CM Ngomba Cameroon jgo-CM N'ko Guinea nqo-GN Northern Luri Iran lrc-IR Northern Luri Iraq lrc-IQ North Ndebele Zimbabwe nd-ZW Norwegian (Bokmal) Norway nb-NO Norwegian Bokmål Svalbard and Jan Mayen nb-SJ Norwegian (Nynorsk) Norway nn-NO Nuer South Sudan nus-SD Nyankole Uganda nyn-UG Occitan France oc-FR Odia India or-IN Oromo Ethiopia om-ET Oromo Kenya om-KE Ossetian Georgia os-GE Ossetian Russia os-RU Pashto Afghanistan ps-AF Persian Iran fa-IR Polish Poland pl-PL Portuguese Angola pt-AO Portuguese Brazil pt-BR Portuguese Cabo Verde pt-CV Portuguese Equatorial Guinea pt-GQ Portuguese Guinea-Bissau pt-GW Portuguese Luxembourg pt-LU Portuguese Macao SAR pt-MO Portuguese Mozambique pt-MZ Portuguese Portugal pt-PT Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe pt-ST Portuguese Switzerland pt-CH Portuguese Timor-Leste pt-TL Prussian prg-001 Punjabi India pa-IN Punjabi Pakistan pa-Arab-PK Quechua Bolivia quz-BO Quechua Peru quz-PE Quechua Ecuador quz-EC Romanian Moldova ro-MD Romanian Romania ro-RO Romansh Switzerland rm-CH Rombo Tanzania rof-TZ Rundi Burundi rn-BI Russian Belarus ru-BY Russian Kazakhstan ru-KZ Russian Kyrgyzstan ru-KG Russian Moldova ru-MD Russian Russia ru-RU Russian Ukraine ru-UA Rwa Tanzania rwk-TZ Saho Eritrea ssy-ER Sakha Russia sah-RU Samburu Kenya saq-KE Sami (Inari) Finland smn-FI Sami (Lule) Norway smj-NO Sami (Lule) Sweden smj-SE Sami (Northern) Finland se-FI Sami (Northern) Norway se-NO Sami (Northern) Sweden se-SE Sami (Skolt) Finland sms-FI Sami (Southern) Norway sma-NO Sami (Southern) Sweden sma-SE Sango Central African Republic sg-CF Sangu Tanzania sbp-TZ Sanskrit India sa-IN Scottish Gaelic United Kingdom gd-GB Sena Mozambique seh-MZ Serbian (Cyrillic) Bosnia and Herzegovina sr-Cyrl-BA Serbian (Cyrillic) Kosovo Serbian (Cyrillic) Montenegro sr-Cyrl-ME Serbian (Cyrillic) Serbia sr-Cyrl-RS Serbian (Latin) Bosnia and Herzegovina sr-Latn-BA Serbian (Latin) Kosovo Serbian (Latin) Montenegro sr-Latn-ME Serbian (Latin) Serbia sr-Latn-RS Sesotho Lesotho Sesotho sa Leboa South Africa nso-ZA Setswana Botswana tn-BW Setswana South Africa tn-ZA Shambala Tanzania ksb-TZ Shona Latin, Zimbabwe sn-Latn-ZW Sindhi Devanagari, India Sindhi Pakistan sd-Arab-PK Sinhala Sri Lanka si-LK siSwati South Africa siSwati Swaziland Slovak Slovakia sk-SK Slovenian Slovenia sl-SI Soga Uganda xog-UG Somali Djibouti so-DJ Somali Ethiopia so-ET Somali Kenya so-KE Somali Somalia so-SO South Ndebele South Africa nr-ZA Spanish Argentina es-AR Spanish Belize es-BZ Spanish Bolivia es-BO Spanish Brazil es-BR Spanish Chile es-CL Spanish Colombia es-CO Spanish Costa Rica es-CR Spanish Cuba es-CU Spanish Dominican Republic es-DO Spanish Ecuador es-EC Spanish El Salvador es-SV Spanish Equatorial Guinea es-GQ Spanish Guatemala es-GT Spanish Honduras es-HN Spanish Latin America es-419 Spanish Mexico es-MX Spanish Nicaragua es-NI Spanish Panama es-PA Spanish Paraguay es-PY Spanish Peru es-PE Spanish Philippines es-PH Spanish Puerto Rico es-PR Spanish Spain es-ES Spanish United States es-US Spanish Uruguay es-UY Spanish Venezuela Standard Moroccan Tamazight Tifinagh, Morocco zgh-Tfng-MA Swedish Åland Islands sv-AX Swedish Finland sv-FI Swedish Sweden sv-SE Swiss German Liechtenstein Swiss German Switzerland Syriac Syria syr-SY Tachelhit (Latin) Morocco shi-Latn-MA Tachelhit Tifinagh, Morocco shi-Tfng-MA Taita Kenya dav-KE Tajik (Cyrillic) Tajikistan tg-Cyrl-TJ Tamil India ta-IN Tamil Malaysia ta-MY Tamil Singapore ta-SG Tamil Sri Lanka ta-LK Tasawaq Niger twq-NE Tatar Russia tt-RU Telugu India te-IN Teso Kenya teo-KE Teso Uganda teo-UG Thai Thailand th-TH Tibetan China bo-CN Tibetan India bo-IN Tigre Eritrea tig-ER Tigrinya Eritrea ti-ER Tigrinya Ethiopia ti-ET Tongan Tonga to-TO Turkish Cyprus tr-CY Turkish Turkey tr-TR Turkmen Turkmenistan tk-TM Ukrainian Ukraine uk-UA Upper Sorbian Germany hsb-DE Urdu India ur-IN Urdu Pakistan ur-PK Uyghur China ug-CN Uzbek (Cyrillic) Uzbekistan uz-Cyrl-UZ Uzbek (Latin) Uzbekistan uz-Latn-UZ Uzbek Perso-Arabic, Afghanistan uz-Arab-AF Vai (Latin) Liberia vai-Latn-LR Vai Liberia vai-Vaii-LR Valencian Spain ca-ES-valencia Venda South Africa ve-ZA Vietnamese Vietnam vi-VN Volapük World vo-001 Vunjo Tanzania vun-TZ Walser Switzerland wae-CH Welsh United Kingdom cy-GB Western Frisian Netherlands Wolaytta Ethiopia wal-ET Wolof Senegal wo-SN Xhosa South Africa xh-ZA Yangben Cameroon yav-CM Yi China ii-CN Yiddesh World yi Yoruba Benin yo-BJ Yoruba Nigeria yo-NG Zarma Niger dje-NE
Contents
- Option One: Restrict User Locales for All Users in Local Group Policy Editor
- Option Two: Restrict User Locales for Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor
- Option Three: Restrict User Locales for All Users in Registry Editor
EXAMPLE: User Locales Default and Restricted
This option will override Option Two.
In Windows 7, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions.
In Windows 8, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Pro and Enterprise editions.
In Windows 10, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option Three below.
1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2 In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, and Locale Services. (see screenshot below)
3 In the right pane of Locale Services, double click/tap on the Restrict user locales policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (unrestrict) or step 6 (restrict) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
Not Configured is the default setting.
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below)
B) Enter the language tags (ex: "en-US;en-GB") separated by a semicolon without a space that you want users to be restricted to select.
If you leave the User Locales field empty, it will lock all user locales to their current locale.
C) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below.
7 When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
In Windows 7, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions.
In Windows 8, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Pro and Enterprise editions.
In Windows 10, the Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option Three below.
1 Open the all users, specific users or groups, or all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.
2 In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, and Locale Services. (see screenshot below)
3 In the right pane of Locale Services, double click/tap on the Restrict user locales policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (unrestict) or step 6 (restrict) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) either Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
Not Configured is the default setting.
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below)
B) Enter the language tags (ex: "en-US;en-GB") separated by a semicolon without a space that you want users to be restricted to select.
If you leave the User Locales field empty, it will lock all user locales to their current locale.
C) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below.
7 When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
This option will override Option Two.
1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.
2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Control Panel\International
If you do not have the Control Panel key, then right click on the Microsoft key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Key, type Control Panel for the name, and press Enter.
If you do not have the International key, then right click on the Control Panel key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Key, type International for the name, and press Enter.
3 Do step 4 (restrict) or step 5 (unrestrict) below for what you would like to do.
A) In the right pane of the International key, double click/tap on the RestrictUserLocales DWORD. (see screenshot below step 2)
If you do not have the RestrictUserLocales DWORD, then right click on an empty area in the right pane of the International key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type RestrictUserLocales for the name, and press Enter.
B) Type 1 for the value data, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
C) In the right pane of the International key, double click/tap on the AllowableUserLocaleTagList string value (REG_SZ). (see screenshot below step 2)
If you do not have the AllowableUserLocaleTagList string value, then right click on an empty area in the right pane of the International key, click/tap on New, click/tap on String Value, type AllowableUserLocaleTagList for the name, and press Enter.
D) Enter the language tags (ex: "en-US;en-GB") separated by a semicolon without a space that you want users to be restricted to select, click/tap on OK, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)
This is the default setting.
A) In the right pane of the International key, select and right click on the AllowableUserLocaleTagList and RestrictUserLocales values, and click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below step 2)
B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)
6 When finished, close Registry Editor.
That's it,
Shawn
Related Tutorials
- How to Change Date and Time Formats in Windows 10
- How to Enable or Disable Changing Date and Time Formats in Windows
- How to Enable or Disable Changing Geographic Location in Windows
- How to Enable or Disable Region page in Settings in Windows 10
Restrict User Locales for Date and Time Formats in Windows
Restrict User Locales for Date and Time Formats in Windows
How to Restrict User Locales for Date and Time Formats in WindowsPublished by Shawn BrinkCategory: General Tips
08 Nov 2020
Tutorial Categories
Related Discussions
