Language & region

What it does

Sets the display and format language, keyboard layout, regional format, home location and timezone for the installed Windows and for every new user account created on the machine.

Crucially, it adds the chosen language to the Windows language list — not just an input override — so the keyboard you pick actually applies. (Setting only an input method silently falls back to US QWERTY, which is a classic "why is my @ in the wrong place" support ticket.)

Options

Option	What it controls
Keyboard layout	The keyboard for all new users (e.g. English UK, Dutch BE, German DE).
Region	Date, number and currency format.
Time zone	Optional. Leaves the OS default if unset. Covers UTC, European, US, Asia-Pacific and South American zones.

Good to know

• Autopilot-compatible. This configures the installed Windows environment, so it works alongside Autopilot registration. It does not control the first-boot OOBE language pages — those come from the Autopilot deployment profile (or, for standalone imaging, from OOBE configuration). It can't be combined with OOBE configuration, which already covers keyboard/region via its answer file.
• This is the fix when Autopilot's language leaves users on the wrong keyboard.
• One timezone setting means no separate timezone step is needed.
• Non-blocking by default: if it can't apply, the setup warns and continues rather than failing the whole build.

Part of the step catalogue.