How the Language Selection Dialog Box Works

On new installations, the default choice in the language selection dialog box is Use Windows language configuration. The language selection list also includes the available Novell Client for Windows languages (for example, Select this line to install in English and Select this line to install in French).

Selecting the Use Windows language configuration option causes the Novell Client for Windows to try and match the language the Windows 7 or Windows Vista user interface is using. The Novell Client for Windows consults the Windows Multilingual User Interface (MUI) configuration and determines if any of the Novell Client for Windows languages match the current MUI preferred or fallback languages.

For the initial release of the Novell Client for Windows, the language selection dialog box in setup.exe is the only way you can make a Client language configuration change. To make a new Novell Client for Windows language selection, you must run setup.exe again and choose a different language.

Using Single-Language Versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista

On single-language versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista, selecting the Use Windows language configuration option is no different than selecting a specific Novell Client for Windows language. For example, if you are running the German version of the Windows Vista Business Edition, selecting either Use Windows language configuration or Select this line to install in German results in German being used as the language for both the Novell Client for Windows installation and the installed version of the Client.

Using Multiple-Language Versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista

On multiple-language versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista, such as the Windows Vista Ultimate Edition with one or more additional Multilingual User Interface (MUI) language packs installed, the Windows user interface language can be individually selected for each Windows user on the machine (using the Change Display Language option in the Windows Vista Control Panel).

If Use Windows language configuration is selected during the Novell Client for Windows installation, the current Windows MUI language configuration is consulted each time the Novell Client language is queried. If the Windows MUI language configuration changes (for example, if a user changes his or her preferred Windows display language, or a different user who has a different preferred Windows display language logs in), the Novell Client re-evaluates the current Windows MUI language selections and determine which of the available Novell Client languages best matches the new and current MUI language.

Available Language Selections

In the Novell Client for Windows language selection dialog box, you might notice that not all of the available Novell Client for Windows languages are offered for selection. For example, on a Windows Vista Business Edition (Japanese) machine, only Select this line to install in English and Select this line to install in Japanese are offered, along with the Use Windows language configuration option.

This is because some components of the Novell Client for Windows are not yet completely based on Unicode. Until all of the major and required Novell Client for Windows user interfaces operate in Unicode, the Client is limited to those languages that can be correctly rendered through the current Windows ANSI code page (what the Windows Regional and Language Options Control Panel dialog box refers to as Language for non-Unicode programs).

Figure 2-3 Regional and Language Options Dialog Box

In general, this means that users of the English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista can select any one of these languages for the Novell Client for Windows language. This is because all of these languages share the same ANSI code page and can successfully render all the other offered languages. Users of the Japanese, Polish, and Russian versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista, however, can select only their own language or English. For example, a Russian version of Windows Vista will display a language selection list with only Use Windows language configuration, Select this line to install in English, and Select this line to install in Russian.

Even on a multi-language version of Windows, such as Windows Vista Ultimate Edition with one or more additional Multilingual User Interface (MUI) language packs installed, there is still only one system-wide Language for non-Unicode programs (meaning that there is still only one system-wide ANSI code page selected in Windows at any given time). As such, even if a Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (Russian) machine successfully installs and uses a German MUI language pack for Windows Vista, the Novell Client for Windows language selection dialog box still only offers English and Russian as options. This is because the Novell Client for Windows language choices are based on the current Windows configuration for the Language for non-Unicode programs setting and not on which MUI language packs are installed or in use.

The Language for non-Unicode programs option can be changed to a different language, which then affects which languages the Novell Client for Windows installation can offer for selection. This is a system-wide setting that affects all non-Unicode applications and not just the Novell Client for Windows.