by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2012/01/19 07:01 -05:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2012/01/19/10258335.aspx
Cue somewhat gratuitous Hotel La Rut video:
At least I know Paul was thinking of me, so I don't have to wonder about that part!
You see, the other day, my friend (and former colleague from Microsoft) tweeted to me over Twitter:
Ah, a somewhat under-documented bit of info, that.
It involves LPKSETUP.EXE.
Let's try running it:
A nice dialog pops up, whether Vista or Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2.
It looks like this:
Now obviously we want to Install display languages (if anyone wants to look into either the Uninstall display languages or How do I get additional display languages? options, they can do so, of course!).
Anyway, once you choose to Install display languages, you'll see the option to Choose your method of install:
That Launch Windows Update option may be of some interest, in other circumstances. After all, it points out the other way to find Language Packs.
But for now we'll stick with Paul's scenario, and Browse computer or network. How better to Locate and install display languages manually, anyway?
Here we go:
Okay, I'll now explain a little bit of how this dialog works.
You choose a directory.
And then it will traverse that directory and its subdirectory (and no further subsubdirctories!) to look for Language Packs or Language Interface Packs!
I took the trouble to copy 16 different lp.cab files to my local Windows 7 machine, in a directory structure I have never personally witnessed:
Now when I browse to the subdirectory, the magic happens.
Well, I guess I can't call it "magic" just like I can't call a card trick "magic" if I have to manually change the order of the deck in front of you to make the trick work!
Anyway, you'll see it detected a bunch of valid lp.cab files:
Only 12 of them are valid for my Windows 7 x64 machine; the other 4 are Windows 7 x86 machines -- though they could have also been other Windows version Language Packs/Language Interface Packs;they'll all fail here.
I suppose this explains why LPKSETUP.EXE doesn't traverse any deeper -- since it is taking the time to open up every CAB file (I renamed several of them to be sure) and see if its valid. Traversing too deep could potentially start to get painful!
Note to CSS: A Microsoft Knowledge Base article aimed primarily at IT folk/system builders explaining how to properly make use of LPKSETUP.EXE to allow any language selection the IT folk/system builders choose to make appear to their users (with the proper steps to work properly with secured desktops) may be the most completely awesome-est KB article of the year! Any takers?
Okay, so that's it. Hopefully it will answer Paul's question.... :-)
I wonder what he's been up to. who he's with, what he's thinking (using Vista?!?), and if he'll ever return someday. Don't you?
So I'm just wondering about Paul -- what he's been up to, who he's with....
I suppose I am in a La Rut myself!
Mike Kolitz on 19 Jan 2012 8:32 AM:
*Love* the Kids In The Hall reference!
cron22 on 20 Jan 2012 6:23 PM:
Very interesting. I wonder why that link would have that particular file in it? That's really strange, isn't it?
Michael S. Kaplan on 20 Jan 2012 6:53 PM:
What link do you mean?
cron22 on 20 Jan 2012 8:13 PM:
I mean the one from which you were trying to install the file from. And if I seemed confused, it's because screen readers don't read images unless they have alt-text around them, so if I ask a question ever about an image, that's why. LOL. Sorry if I made myself look stupid tonight.
Michael S. Kaplan on 20 Jan 2012 8:48 PM:
Ugh, I need to start including alt text in the images!!!
Michael S. Kaplan on 20 Jan 2012 8:49 PM:
You did not make yourself look stupid, BTW....
cron22 on 22 Jan 2012 8:41 PM:
It's okay though, because how would you have known? I always have to alert people to missing alt-text. You should have seen the way I had to alert the folks at my college, and they got right down to it and it was fixed. I wouldn't worry about that though. You guys don't have to worry about Section 508, do you?
Michael S. Kaplan on 22 Jan 2012 10:10 PM:
I worry about this sort of thing a LOT. Accessibility isn't just a line item for me.
cron22 on 23 Jan 2012 12:59 PM:
Yes, I remember. The moment you said something about that last year, I just got hooked on your blog and I try to read your entertainment every day because I really get a laugh as well as a good technical education out of what you have to say. And thanks for being on my side. You should talk to the programmers for me and maybe you could ask them to quit making standards and then ignoring them? Think MS Expression, for example. We as blind individuals have to rely on either self-created or community-created scripts for it to work, and there's one company who ignores us because to them, it's not a "supported application".