Question

Does Windows MUI (set to a particular user interface language) differ from a localized version?

Answer

Yes, although functionally there is little difference. A Windows system with MUI will largely look and behave like the localized version, with some exceptions. MUI runs on top of the English version of Windows. From a feature and architectural point of view, localized versions of Windows are the same as English Windows XP. However, on localized:

1. The User Interface resources are fully localized.
2. The Windows Setup information, such as system locale, user locale, keyboard layout, etc is customized for the specific language/country. This is a policy setting with the Multilingual User Interface Pack.
3. Additional country specific device drivers are added in the East Asian versions only.
4. Support for upgrades from Localized versions of Windows 9X or Windows 2000 to localized Windows XP. MUI only supports upgrades from English versions.

Because the resources used in a localized version are used to create MUI, there is no difference between the actual translations. This results in a nearly full localization, apart from small elements that are still dependent on:

1. INF files
2. UI strings stored in the registry
3. ANSI components such as Hyperterminal
4. 16-bit applications in ANSI format.

The percentage of localization coverage in Windows 2000 with MUI is about 90%. In Windows 2000 with MUI, there are many visible strings that appear in English. One of the most noticeable areas is the Start Menu. This is because the Start Menu is populated directly using the file names of folders and link files created at setup time. They appear in English even if you are running on a MUI system with Japanese User Interface, as English was the original installation language.

This has been changed in Windows XP and results in a much higher localized experience for the system user. Much of the additional localized coverage in Windows XP is achieved through 'MUI-enabling' Windows XP system modules and applications, specifically by:

1. Transferring User Interface strings from the registry to Windows resource files.
2. Removing User Interface strings from the kernel.
3. Using the MUI-enabled shell to display localized strings for Start menu items, desktop shortcuts, shell menu items, file type names and shell verbs (shell's right-click menu items).
4. Making Windows services impersonate the current interactive user instead of the system default when displaying User Interface.
5. Barring the use of hard-coded file paths when loading resource files including help files, so that an alternate resource path can be used to load the resource file.
6. Provide special code in each component to install and load the User Interface resource if a non traditional Win-32 resource is used (such as XML or HTML based resource)

Implementing these changes for Windows XP Multilingual User Interface Pack resulted in much higher localization quality and make a big difference in the user experience. A system running MUI also requires more disk space to store the additional resources files.

Additional Comments
Applies To: LNM 2005