Is it possible to change the language of Windows Sandbox?

Question

I need to do some mui test, and i need to change the language of the windows sandbox. The problem is that it's not possible to reboot or logout, as it will close and erase the sandbox. In the official documentation there's no mention of this: I wonder if there's a workaround to allow that, for example to modify the master image

Answer 1

It is possible to change many settings of the Windows Sandbox.

As Windows Sandbox is a virtual machine that is discarded when closed, you should modify the base image of the virtual machine itself in its .vhdx file.

See the article How to customize the default Windows Sandbox (files, folders, registry, wallpaper) without using WSB file.

In a nutshell :

• Mount the VHDX by stopping the Windows system service "Container Manager Service", and double-click on BaseLayer.vhdx in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Containers\BaseImages\GUID
• Modify the registry using regedit menu File > Load hive to load \Files\Users\WDAGUtilityAccount\ntuser.dat and use File > Unload hive when finished.

For all language settings in the registry, see :

• Where in the registry is the language setting for each user stored?
• Windows 10 1809 - Region/language registry keys
• How to delete a keyboard layout in Windows 10

It would perhaps be simpler to setup your Windows to the wanted language and export the registry items of interest, then import these changes to the registry of the base image.

Answer 2

As @izogfif let me notice, it's now possible to reboot Windows Sandbox without losing data (but everything would be deleted when shut down)

When changing locale:

DO NOT click on "sign out"

but manually reboot

it's now possible to have the different language

Answer 3

This is a PowerShell script that does the same:

powershell -Command Set-WinUILanguageOverride -Language en-US;Restart-Computer

Or if you wanna change keyboard, culture, etc

powershell -Command Set-WinUILanguageOverride -Language en-US; Set-WinUserLanguageList en-US -Force; Set-WinSystemLocale en-US; Set-Culture en-US; Restart-Computer