MS VS 2010: change language settings from de to en

Question

recently i have installed MS Visual Studio 2010 Professional as an upgrade from 2005. I wanted to use the english version but after installation it's german(2005 was english if that matters).

I tried to change it via Extras/Options/Environment/International Settings to "Same as Microsoft Windows"(what is english) and restarted IDE (and system) but the change was not applied at all. There are only two options: german and same as windows.

Facts:

• MS Visual Studio 2010 professional(upgrade from 2005 Professional) german
• OS is Windows XP(english)
• german is default input language(control-panel/regional.../languages/details), changed but without any effect

Did i miss something in the setup of the installation or do i have to install a language-pack?

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Edit: i have tried Rob's suggestion to deinstall Visual Studio and all of its components, install the english .net 4.0 framework and reinstall Visual Studio, but unfortunately without the desired result. It is german again with no chance to switch to english. The installation routine seems to overwrite the framework and replaces it with the DEU-languagepack.

Is it really impossible to change the IDE language-settings without installing an english version first? Is it at least possible to get english error-messages from the framework?

By the way, am i the only person that wonders why i need an english version first to be able to switch languages? Why should i then order any other language than EN at all?

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

It's possible.

Install your version (German). Once the installation is finished you can install the English trial version: Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional Trial - Web Installer

Once the trial installation is finished you are able to switch languages in

Tools -> Options... -> Environment -> International Settings

You can even uninstall the german version through appwiz.cpl. Look for Visual Studio components with de or DEU endings.

It seems that the license is language independent.

Answer 2

You could try and do the following

• Try to remove the VS2010 installation and the .NET framework installation. Then download the english version here. Install the English .NET framework and then install VS2010.

• If that doesn't work then maybe the two blogposts below will help. There are tricks with startup parameters to be able to use a certain language.

  Blog 1 about how to use the LCID parameter

  Blog 2 with a list of available language codes

Two other interresting blog posts from the same writer can be found here and here.