Time and Language Show Language Bar on Desktop or Taskbar in Windows 11


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Keyboard_layout_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to use the desktop language bar on taskbar language bar for your account in Windows 11.

In Windows, you can change your keyboard layout to type in another language or input method you want to use..

The language of your keyboard layout controls the characters that appear on your screen when you type. By using the different layouts, you can type all the characters for the language, including diacritics such as the umlaut (ä) in German and the tilde (ñ) in Spanish.

When you add a language, the default keyboard layout for the language will be installed by default.

You can install additional keyboards for language-specific key layouts and input options. Adding an input language lets you set a language-preference order for websites and apps, as well as change your keyboard language.

When you have more than one language and/or keyboard layout installed, you can change your keyboard layout via the Language Bar or press the Win + Spacebar keys to cycle through all your installed keyboards.


The Use the desktop language bar when it's available setting is stored in the UserPreferencesMask binary value for the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop registry key, but this UserPreferencesMask binary value is also used for other settings.



Contents

  • Option One: Show Language Bar on Desktop or Taskbar in Settings
  • Option Two: Show Language Bar on Desktop or Taskbar in PowerShell


EXAMPLE: Desktop or taskbar language bar

language_bar_on_desktop-1.png
language_bar_on_desktop-2.png

language_bar_on_taskbar.png





Option One

Show Language Bar on Desktop or Taskbar in Settings


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Time & language on the left side, and click/tap on Typing on the right side. (see screenshot below)


Language_Bar_Settings-1.png

3 Click/tap on Advanced keyboard settings (see screenshot below)

Language_Bar_Settings-2.png

4 Check (desktop) or uncheck (taskbar - default) Use the desktop language bar when it's available for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Language_Bar_Settings-3.png

5 You can now close Settings if you like.




Option Two

Show Language Bar on Desktop or Taskbar in PowerShell


1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Windows PowerShell.

2 Copy and paste the command below you want to use into PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshots below)


 Use desktop language bar

This will check Use the desktop language bar when it's available and uncheck Let me use a different input method for each app window.


Set-WinLanguageBarOption -UseLegacyLanguageBar

OR

This will check both Use the desktop language bar when it's available and Let me use a different input method for each app window.


Set-WinLanguageBarOption -UseLegacyLanguageBar -UseLegacySwitchMode



 Use taskbar language bar

This is the default setting.

This will uncheck both Let me use a different input method for each app window and Use the desktop language bar when it's available.


Set-WinLanguageBarOption

OR

This will uncheck Use the desktop language bar when it's available, and check Let me use a different input method for each app window.


Set-WinLanguageBarOption -UseLegacySwitchMode


3 You can now close Windows Terminal if you like.

language_bar_on_desktop_PowerShell.png

language_bar_on_taskbar_PowerShell.png



That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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Last edited:
Hello Shawn,
Any ideas how to use PowerShell or a registry key to check "Use the desktop language bar when it's available" when it is unchecked? We would like to turn that on across our organization.
Thanks,
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
Hello Shawn,
Any ideas how to use PowerShell or a registry key to check "Use the desktop language bar when it's available" when it is unchecked? We would like to turn that on across our organization.
Thanks,

Hello, :-)

You could use either PowerShell command below from step 2 in option 2 to check "Use the desktop language bar when it's available".

Set-WinLanguageBarOption -UseLegacyLanguageBar

Set-WinLanguageBarOption -UseLegacyLanguageBar -UseLegacySwitchMode
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

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