Windows 7 Handwriting Recognition Multi-Language Doesn't Work (w/workaround)

Windows 7 handwriting recognition only supports your display language and English in all editions except for 7 Ultimate and 7 Enterprise

When I installed Windows 7 English on my TX2500, I found that unlike Windows Vista Home Premium, the option to handwrite in Japanese and Chinese were both greyed out.

Update on my theory:
The en-US MUI within Windows 7 has multi-language tablet pc input disabled when you get non Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows 7. However, you can overwrite the en-US language pack or use any language pack provided for Ultimate/Enterprise to enable this functionality. Any language pack you download from Microsoft Update will work since the language packs are designed to be used with Windows 7 Ultimate/Enterprise.

Reference: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...-handwriting-recognition-for-another-language

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Win 7 MUI Packs from Vistalizator
32 bit
64 bit

Vistalizator beta
Direct link: http://www.froggie.sk/download/Vistalizator_beta.exe

A: Manual install
1. Download the exe language pack from http://www.froggie.sk/download.html, run the exe and it will extract "lp.cab" for a moment, but will delete it automatically. You will need to either rename it or move it as soon as it appears. This is the CAB file you need for the next step. Not sure how to extract it properly, but this worked.
2. Run "Command prompt", and enter the following line
DISM /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath: PATH TO THE DOWNLOADED LP.CAB FILE
3. Run Vistalizator beta to change your language, as it should show up in the list now, so just select it and restart your computer.
3 (manual). Run "Command prompt" and type in the following line, replace zh-TW with your language pack abbreviation:
bcdboot %WinDir% /l zh-TW

(Ideas from WinMatrix forums)

B: GUI Method

If this doesn't work, you need to proceed to the manual method. Vistalizator gave me errors the first time around.

1. You need to first download the target language pack (MUI pack): http://www.froggie.sk/download.html
3. Run Vistalizator beta, choose "Add language". Do an internal instead of express install by double clicking the 'Express' cell in the table (I never tried Express install).
4. When processes are done, change your language and restart.


(These methods don't seem to replace the help files into your local language. However, it enables menus and handwriting recognition otherwise disabled by Windows 7 if you do not have the Ultimate or Enterprise editions. Not sure how to fix but not a big deal for me. )

My results
I did this on a English Windows 7 Pro install from English to zh-TW (Chinese Taiwanese) and as a result enabled Traditional Chinese handwriting recognition otherwise disabled by the operating system.

Installing the Japanese MUI pack using Vistalizator unlocked Japanese text recognition as well.

Should work for other languages as well.

Now I haven't tried overwriting the language pack I was running on. My steps to get multi-language recognition with English interface enabled:
1. I installed Chinese traditional using the manual method
2. installed en-US using the manual method
3. switched back to en-US method

 

great find. thanks for forwarding this info along.

 

New findings updated

 

woohoo! thanks for finding this out! was hesitating getting W7 'cause i had this problem in the beta...

but now i can safely get it!

 

thanks for this info.
MS really made this retarded.

 

Thanks a million for this!! I can now write in Japanese.

[edit] I should say, I can now PRACTICE WRITING in Japanese.

 

I just tried both methods with Chinese (Traditional)... the UI changes to chinese, but chinese handwriting input is still greyed out. What could be wrong?

thanks!

 

Thank you very much! Actually I registered to this forum only to say thank you ;-) But since I'm a tablet owner too now (HP TM2), I guess it's not the last time I write in here.

It worked like a charm:
- downloaded Vistalizator and the Win7 x64 German MUI pack
- installed and switched to German using Vistalizator (required restart)
- switched back to English using Vistalizator (restart again)
=> now I've still got an English (which I prefer) Win7 HP x64, but with German handwriting recognition working (when switching the input language to German)



Thanks the WWW, Google and all those people writing great apps and tutorials!

 

This is such a life saver!!!

ありがとう!

 

does anyone know if I can use arabic language.

its right to left, and letters are connected.