Did you install an English version of Windows on your computer, only to change the default display language to another language afterwards? Like maybe Spanish, or French, or any other language you prefer using? If you did that, you probably found out the hard way that, although the display language is the one you want, the language your computer uses on the sign-in/lock screen is still the one that your Windows version used by default. Read this tutorial if you want to find out how to make Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 use the the same display language everywhere, both on the desktop and on the lock screen or the sign-in screen:

NOTE: In order to make the necessary changes, you need to open the Region window. We will start by showing how to open this window in Windows 10, followed by Windows 8.1 and then Windows 7, in this specific order.

How to open the Region settings in Windows 10

In order to change the language used by your Windows 10 PC or device on the sign-in/lock screen, you'll have to open a panel called Region. The fastest way to do that is to use Cortana's search box from the taskbar. Enter the word region in it and then click or tap on the Region (Control Panel) search result.

Another way to open the Region settings is to open the Control Panel , go to Clock, Language, and Region and then click or tap on Region.

Regardless of the way you choose to get to the Region settings, this is what you should see:

How to open the Region settings in Windows 8.1

To be able to change the sign-in/lock screen language in Windows 8.1, you'll first have to open a settings window called Region. To do that, switch to the Start screen, and then start typing the word region. Once the search results start to appear, click or tap on Region.

If you prefer the old ways, you can reach the same Region settings by going through the Control Panel. Open the Control Panel and then go to Clock, Language, and Region and then click or tap on Region.

This is what the Region settings look like in Windows 8.1:

How to open the Region settings in Windows 7

The display language used on your sign-in screen in Windows 7 is set from a settings window called Region. To get to it, open the Start Menu and write the word region in its search field. Then click on the "Region and Language" search result.

You can also go the long way and open the Control Panel and then go to " Clock, Language, and Region " and then to Region.

Here's a sample of how the Region and Language window looks in Windows 7:

NOTE: From now on, the settings look and act the same in Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. That's why, in order to keep things simple, we'll use screenshots taken only in Windows 10.

How to change the default language used on the Windows sign-in/lock screen

Select the Administrative tab by clicking or tapping on its name at the top of the Region window.

The first section of settings is called " Welcome screen and new user accounts" and it tells you that you can use it to "View and copy your international settings to the welcome screen, system account and new user accounts". Although it's not very exact, the "welcome screen" is just another name for the sign-in screen, or the lock screen, which is exactly what we're looking for.

Then, you get a button named "Copy settings". Click or tap on it.

A dialog box called "Welcome screen and new user accounts settings" opens. In it, you can see the display language used by your user account, as well as the display language your Windows PC uses for the "Welcome screen".

To match the sign-in/lock screen language with that used for your user account, check the option that says "Copy your current settings to: Welcome screen and system accounts". You will find it at the bottom of the window.

After you click or tap on the OK button, Windows asks you to reboot your computer or device, so that it can save your new preferences. Do that and, when you'll get to the sign-in screen, you'll see that it now uses the same language as the one used by Windows on your desktop.

Conclusion

Matching the display language you use on your desktop to the one showed by Windows on the sign-in/lock screen might not seem like much , but it's something that helps you customize your PC so that you use the same display language everywhere. And, at least for some of us, it's pretty important to see our mother tongue being used everywhere on our Windows computers. We hope that you found this guide useful. If you have any questions or issues, ask using the comments form below.