Microsoft KB Archive/129807

= Running Non-Latin Based Version of Windows Application =

Article ID: 129807

Article Last Modified on 7/30/2001



This article was previously published under Q129807



SUMMARY
If you attempt to run a non-Latin-character-based version of a Windows application under the U.S. version of Microsoft Windows, it will not work correctly. For example, the Korean version of Microsoft Excel will not run properly under the U.S. version of Windows. The Korean version of a Windows application must be run under the Korean version of Windows.

Latin-character-based language versions are those that use the Latin alphabet and include English, Spanish, and German (as well as other Western European languages). Non-Latin-character-based languages include right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew; Cyrillic alphabet languages such as Russian; and double-byte character languages such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.



MORE INFORMATION
The reason for this incompatibility is that a non-Latin-character-based language version of an application uses double-byte characters, which allows the computer to make an Oriental-type character. A double-byte character, that is, 16 bits for each character, allows for 64,000 possible characters, instead of the 256 possibilities for a single-byte character. If you run a non-Latin-character-based application under a U.S. version of Windows, all of the text in the application (on menus and in dialog boxes) appears in unreadable ASCII extended characters, rather than in English or Korean.

The non-Latin-character-based versions of Windows are "super" versions; they include all of the features of the U.S. version of Windows, and in addition, they accept the double-byte character set. Therefore, you can run either a non-Latin-character-based version or a Latin-character- based version of an application under a non-Latin-character-based version of Windows. For example:
 * If you want to run the Korean version of Microsoft Excel, you must install the Korean version of Microsoft Windows. However, in the super version of Windows, you can still run the U.S. versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Money, and so on.
 * When you run a non-Latin-character-based version of Microsoft Windows, you can also run the Arabic version of an application.

NOTE: When you start a non-Latin-character-based version of Microsoft Windows, a toolbar is provided to allow you to toggle the keyboard between single-byte and double-byte characters. However, Latin-character-based versions of applications do not understand double-byte characters and may interpret a double-byte character as two separate characters. Because of this, when you run a Latin-character-based version of an application under a Non-Latin-character-based version of Microsoft Windows, you should not enter a double-byte character in the application.

Additional query words: foreign language intl int'l international

Keywords: KB129807

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