Hey folks. Going through an old drive and found some old japanese programs and games. But I cant read most of it in symbols. I remember microsoft had a program call AppLocale(apploc.msi). Figured I could try a virtual machine and see what old stuff was on the drive I came across. But microsoft deleted the program many years ago.

Anyway. I found a 1.0 verson someone put up on Archive, but I thought it had a later version. Like v1.3 or something.

Just asking if anyone knows something about it.

Found this link, shows version 1.3.3.31 - https://microsoft-applocale.freedownloadscenter.com/windows/

VirusTotal shows it is clean -
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/b7d3c2f3cb52f77a23e223d4151a53845712d3881ca93ec57d1519d7ee9f2e4b

Anyway, I suggest using Locale-Emulator - https://github.com/xupefei/Locale-Emulator

edit: checked my old partition with WinXP, found Applocale installed (but no installer, sorry) and the version is the same - 1.3.3.31

I grabbed the version from Wayback Machine, which has the v1.0 directly at the time from microsoft. But I have no info on where the later versions come from. It seems to be fan created maybe after the v1.0. I have not much to follow. Mostly shady sites I cannot post here. So who knows? But thanks for looking.

Anyone else have anything?

Edit: I looked at the github Locale, but its not meant for an XP system. But thanks anyway.

What I remember about AppLocale is that it was pretty hit-or-miss. You're better off setting the language of non-Unicode programs to Japanese in Control Panel.

You may have a point there. Thanks for the reminder.

Thing is, I used the programs over ten years ago on a business machine that dealt with japanese software. I think I also need a japanese language pack. Which....my memory is crap anyway, I cant remember if the languages were baked into the OS CD pro service pack 3 or if it was a download.....or if applocale just shown the japanese letters as is.

I do have an old laptop but its not likely to function. Then there would be a modern usb adapter approach, pulling the drive out....no i.d.e. adapter on hand lol....arg!


Anyone know if WinXP back in the day needed a japanese language pack for the characters?

....cripes....I find such odd rabbit holes sometimes xD

It's grouped under East Asian Language Support, which needs to be installed from Control Panel - Language and Regional Options. You'll be prompted for your Windows XP installation CD.

Found it! Thanks boss :)