4 ways to Enable Windows XP Language Toolbar

Category: Tricks n Techniques

I was completely frustrated with Languge toolbar as it was enabled in some computer and not enabled in other computer. I tried many methods and after some trial and error, I found few things which might help you get your Windows Language Toolbar back. This solution is given for Windows XP user.

Method 1

Right click on the Taskbar and go to toolbars. If Language Bar option is there check it by clicking it. and you will get Language Toolbar.

Method 2

Go to Start menu > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages Tab > Text Services and Input Languages Box> Details… > Settings Tab > Preferences Box > Language Bar…
Now tick the option “Show Language bar on desktop” and you will get Language bar on your task bar.

Make sure that Start menu > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages Tab > Text Services and Input Languages Box> Details… > Advanced Tab > System Configuration Box
Make sure that Turn off advanced text service is unchecked.

Method 3

Language bar is a core component in Windows XP. When you are opening any Office XP application, this program starts running. Sometime, this program runs on startup. If you want to check if this program is running or not, to to task manager by clicking ctrl+Shirt + Esc or by right clicking on Taskbar and choosing Task Manager > Processes tab. Check if the process ctfmon.exe is running or not. If it is not running, go to Start > Run… Type ctfmon and press Enter. This will start the process and you will be able to see Language Bar.

Method 4

Go to Start > Run… type regedit. This will open up registry. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar
Here you will see following registry keys

  1. ExtraIconsOnMinimized = 1
  2. Label = 1
  3. ShowStatus = 4
  4. Transparency= ff

Out of these four options, ShowStatus is very important and it is responsible for actually showing the Language Bar on Taskbar. If you dont have this option set to 4, set it 4, close regedit browser, kill the process ctfmon.exe if it is there and start it by following steps in Method 3.

I hope now you would have got your Language Toolbar.

Click here for Video Tutorial on How to Enable Language Toolbar in Windows

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  1. Torok Andrei says:

    Thank you for this explanation on how to convince Win. XP to show the languages tab on the taskbar. Somehow I have managed to make it disappear and couldn’t make it show again (while “alt+shift” somehow didn’t change the keyboard language).

    Reply
  2. Aditya Goyal says:

    awesome answer sir!
    everywhere they give all the three methods but nowhere the last method was given. i fixed my problem with the last method, as it was not set to 4 instead it was set to 0.
    thanks a lot sir.

    Reply
  3. stm says:

    Thanks!!!

    Reply
  4. exbungee says:

    You are my hero! The combination that worked for me is (in the following order): step 4 – step 3 – step 2. Couple of restarts as required. Thank you unknown hero!

    Reply
  5. exbungee says:

    Awesome is the word! The combination that worked for me is (in the following order): step 4 – step 3 – step 2. Couple of restarts as required. Thank you unknown hero!

    Reply
  6. andrei says:

    awesome, all the steps are very clear and in the right order, it took me to the Method 3 and i got the language toolbar back on the Taskbar. Thanks a lot, guru!

    Reply
  7. steve says:

    jane :tried method 3 and i see the language bar occurred for a second then after i press minimize , it disperser ,can’t find it again.

    retype ctfmon.exe and it will return — same thing happened to me when I chose settings and then ok out of that area.

    created a shortcut on my desktop to keep ctfmon and named it language bar in case I do it again

    Reply
  8. jane says:

    thanks a lot! the video tutorial method 4 really help me !

    Reply
  9. jane says:

    beside “regional option” there is “languages”, under “supplemental language support” only one check box can be seeing ,the other one “instal files for east asian language” is hiden, so i can’t check it.

    Reply
  10. jane says:

    tried method 3 and i see the language bar occurred for a second then after i press minimize , it disperser ,can’t find it again.

    Reply
  11. Jim says:

    man you are the best!
    thank you!

    Reply
  12. milan says:

    awesome dude u have got a genuine brain just keep on helping other.

    Reply
  13. Dhruv says:

    Thanks a lot man..

    Reply
  14. mahdi says:

    tanks alot. it is help me.

    Reply
  15. raymo says:

    Thank you

    Reply
  16. saipra says:

    thanks

    Reply
  17. Dipin says:

    Thanks Team

    Reply
  18. Vlad says:

    Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  19. Prady says:

    Wooo.. U guys are really awesome….

    Thanks πŸ™‚

    Reply
  20. xman says:

    thanks the information is helpful thanks a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot

    Reply
  21. Michael says:

    YESSS! Thank you sooo much!!!
    Really helped. I was so angry, thanks.

    Reply
  22. efrat says:

    Thanks alot,this was very helpful!!!!

    Reply
  23. Midhat says:

    Thanks alot for your post…It’s really helpful…! my problem get resolved! Thanks indeed.

    Reply
  24. Christopher says:

    Thanks for your post..!!! It is really helpful…!!

    Reply
  25. sarang says:

    thank you !

    Reply
  26. surajit basu says:

    Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  27. Elango YK says:

    Thanks for your helpful post. I have solve my prob by ur post. But Still I cant set shot cuts for the language bar. The Key Settings button adjacent to Language Bar in the Text Services and Input Languages dialog box is DISABLED.
    Please help me to enable this. Other gimme any other alternate way to set the shortcut for changing languages.

    Thanks in advance…

    Reply
  28. Kasbaba says:

    Thank you so very much. Your blog told me exactly what to do…thanks again.

    kasbaba

    Reply
  29. Ψ§Ω„Ω…Ω‡Ψ§ says:

    Thank you so much .. method 2 worked .. sweet πŸ™‚

    “Make sure that Start menu > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages Tab > Text Services and Input Languages Box> Details… > Advanced Tab > System Configuration Box
    Make sure that Turn off advanced text service is unchecked.”

    Thanks again.

    Reply
  30. Rmani says:

    Thanks a lot…it worked for me…

    Reply
  31. alex wong says:

    That is OK. I have worked it out. I just need to tick the Extend support of advanced text services to all programs

    Reply
  32. alex wong says:

    Thanks very much. I did get back the language bar. But I still have another problem. I have installed a Chinese Data Entry program. But it does not show up in the language bar in the task bar as another input method.

    Reply
  33. manoj rathod says:

    thanks. i did it.

    Reply
  34. Oluwavictor says:

    Thanks a bubch. i used a combination of method 3 & 4. My lang bar is up.

    Reply
  35. henry says:

    o no no luk at all again with my computer

    Reply
  36. henry says:

    me too lol adrian

    Reply
  37. henry says:

    ah nice it worked on my laptops but not on my other computer its sad but it was still helpful
    πŸ™‚

    Reply
  38. Adrian says:

    This is a great compilation of solutions. But I am still having trouble. When i RUN ‘ctfmon’ a pop-up window appears saying that “Windows cannot find ctfmon…blablabla”, the same problem others above me has.
    I read in other websites that ctfmon.exe is needed to make language bar come out, so i think that’s the problem. And i tried EVERYTHING in the Text Services and Input Languages thing and the Preferences “Language Bar…” is clickable but everything inside wasn’t.
    I need help. I want the language bar soooo bad xD
    Thanks!!

    Reply
  39. lloid says:

    I have language bar on my desktop, but I can’t minimize him in the toolbar. When I push minimize button, the language bar disappear. After that I have to complete method 2, but it still shows on my desktop, not in my toolbar. How to fix that?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  40. sean hoogland says:

    That really helped, thanks!

    Reply
  41. Shekhoo says:

    Thanks man, this is rare info

    Reply
  42. sushant says:

    was indeed helpful and very simple language used to explain.
    Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  43. Grace says:

    by the way, maybe you would informed me that i type it incorrectly due to my wrong spelling on the first message. i did type ctfmon, still it does not work. thanks

    Reply
  44. Grace says:

    Hi! I followed your method 4 but as I type the regedit the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar is not on the list. As for method 3 as I type ctfomon it pops up a message that can’t find “ctfmon”. I can’t use the other languages since on the regional language setting even though I have uncheck the turn off advance text service still it does not apply. After I restart my computer it the turn off advance text would still have a check on the box. Hope you could help. Thanks.

    Reply
  45. Mayra says:

    thanks for this, it really helped me. NOw my problem is solved.

    Reply
  46. geeks says:

    Cool,

    I Know how to use it in xp but unfortunately it has changed for vista does any one have any idea how it works for vista?

    Thanks for writing about it

    Reply
  47. june says:

    I have same problem as Nick. I made language bar appear in task bar, but even after I changed language bar to different language, it doesn’t let me type in different language. Whatever I type is still in English. Can you help me in this situation?

    Reply
  48. JL says:

    Thank you for all the methods you have mentioned.
    I cannot try the method 1 and 2 because the “Language Bar” on my computer is unavailable (can not be clicked) under the Preferences Box. When I tried the method 3 to run the ctfmon, I got message: “windows cannot find ctfmon.” I did the method 4 successfully, but it still does not work. I checked the task manager, there is not ctfmon process running.
    Any idea about the situation I have would be really appreciated.

    Reply
  49. Nathan Davis says:

    Thank you! This is more helpful than the Microsfot KB I found.

    Reply
  50. Gailius says:

    this helped to me too! thank you!

    Reply
  51. siwarach says:

    thank you very much ^-^

    Reply
  52. Reza says:

    Thank you very much for your advance and complete guide.
    I used your method easily to solve my problem and so I would like you know that I appreciate your good work.
    Regards,

    Reply
  53. anupam says:

    oops!! I forgot to thank you buddy.

    Reply
  54. anupam says:

    sometimes due to any antivirus software or spyware removal tool ctfmon.exe becomes ctfmon.exe.backup or some other extension change it to ctfmon.exe in the windows/system32 folder (anywhere else it is a virus in disguise) and language bar will appear instantly. In all other cases above methods are miracle.

    Reply
  55. Pete says:

    Method three did the trick. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  56. adam says:

    thank man !!!
    u r realy best ~!!!!!!

    Reply
  57. amitabh farogh says:

    good

    Reply
  58. nick says:

    I have the language bar but it does not let me to switch between the languages (nothing happens when I click on the other than EN option). Everything in the Control Panel > ….> CTRL+SHIFT or ALT+Shift I have already tried. Please help!

    Reply
  59. someone says:

    i tried to run ctfmon but nothing happened

    Reply
  60. Language Processing says:

    Thanks it helped me 2!

    Reply
  61. Henry Rabinowitz says:

    the best summary on the net on this thorny subject

    Reply
  62. Anton says:

    Thanks!

    Reply
  63. Tamer El-Shaarkawy says:

    Thanks man

    Reply
  64. Richard says:

    still no language bar, I deleted it from the registry once…

    Reply
  65. no name says:

    Thanks. This helped.

    Reply
  66. Alen says:

    It’s exactly what I am looking for. I found my Language Bar by the second method you described. Many Thanks!

    Reply
  67. Ace says:

    I searched forever to find out how to fix this problem. Thank you so much for posting a solution that actually works!!!

    Reply
  68. George says:

    very helpful, thanks

    Reply
  69. onre says:

    First make sure ctfmon.exe runs. If not, start it. Then use method 1 or 2, both worked after that for me.

    Reply
  70. Mads says:

    Method 4 did it for me πŸ˜€

    Thank you!

    Reply
  71. jak says:

    thank you thank you thank you
    god bless you ummah

    Reply
  72. Michael Scofield says:

    looking for this,thank you!

    Reply