How to Change Your Keyboard from US to UK (Windows XP)

Last Updated: June 3, 2021 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to change a Windows XP PC's language and keyboard layout from United States English to UK English. If you're using Windows 10, check out How to Change the Windows 10 Language.

Steps

1
Click the Start menu. It's usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen.^{[1]
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2
Click Run…. It's near the bottom of the menu. The "Run" box will appear.
3
Type intl.cpl into the box and press ↵ Enter. This opens the "Regional and Language Options" window.
4
Click the Languages tab. It's the second tab at the top of the window.
5
Click Details. This opens the "Text Services and Input Languages" window.
6
Click Add. It's on the right side of the "Installed Services" list.^{[2]
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7
Select English (United Kingdom) from the "Input language" menu.
8
Select United Kingdom from the "Keyboard layout/IME" menu.
9
Click OK. This returns you to the "Text Services and Input Languages" window.
10
Select English (United Kingdom) from the "Default input language" menu. It's at the top of the window.
11
Click OK and then OK again. This saves your changes and adds the Language Bar to the taskbar, which says "EN."
12
Click the Language Bar. It's the "EN" on the taskbar. A list of installed languages will appear.
13
Click English (United Kingdom). You have now switched from US English to UK English.
- Hover your mouse cursor over the Language Bar at any time to see which language you're using.

Community Q&A

Question

Shift 2 and 3 display the wrong things, how do I rectify (Windows 10)?

Community Answer

Press the ENG tab at the bottom right of your screen, and then click English (United Kingdom) or English (United States) depending on what layout your keyboard is. They're both QWERTY, so select the one that isn't currently selected.