How to force remove a language pack on Windows 10

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If you can't remove a particular language pack on Windows 10, these PowerShell commands should do the trick.

Windows 10 is available in many languages, and you can even install additional packs for each of the languages you speak. This feature gives you the flexibility to use a particular language for display (Settings and File Explorer), while still being able to use keyboard, apps, and websites in a different language.

However, sometimes, if you use multiple languages, and you need to change your settings, you may find out that the option to remove a secondary pack isn't available. For example, this could happen if you, or the Windows 10 upgrade process accidentally, install a package that shares the same base language as the display language, in which case you may not be able to remove either language. Just like many users reported after installing the April 2018 Update (version 1803).

If you must remove a language and the option to remove it is grayed out, there's a workaround that you can use to quickly get rid of the unwanted pack using a few PowerShell commands.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to remove a secondary language pack that you may be unable to delete using the Settings app.

How to remove language packs using PowerShell

If the option to remove a language pack on Windows 10 is grayed out in the Settings app, you can use the following steps to use PowerShell to remove it:

  1. Open Start.
  2. Search for Windows PowerShell, right-click the top result, and select Run as administrator.
  3. Type the following command to list the languages currently installed on your device and press Enter:Get-WinUserLanguageList

  1. Make a note of the LanguageTag you want to remove.
  2. Type the following commands (one at a time) to remove the language that you don't need and press Enter:$LangList = Get-WinUserLanguageList$MarkedLang = $LangList | where LanguageTag -eq "LANGUAGETAG"$LangList.Remove($MarkedLang)Set-WinUserLanguageList $LangList -ForceIn the second command, make sure to change LANGUAGETAG with the code of the language you want to remove. For example, es-US, if your primary language is not the English US, and that's the pack you want to delete.

Once you've completed the steps, open the Settings app, in the "Region & language" page, and the language that you couldn't remove before should now be gone. (You may need to repeat the steps to remove additional languages.)

If you're trying to remove a primary language, remember that you must set a new language as the new default before the Remove button becomes available.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10 visit the following resources:

Mauro Huculak
Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years.