Changing Pocket PC Language

The Pocket PC I recently received was completely in French, so I figured 'I'll just change this to English'.

It can't be that hard, can it? Apparently it was trickier then I thought.

The Pocket PC has the OS in it's ROM, and it has limited ROM, so no multilanguages in there.

It quickly became obvious to me the ROM had to be flashed with an English version, but where to get it?

I didn't buy the Pocket PC, so asking Dell to give me an English one probably would fail, and from various messageboards I discovered they won't do it anyway.

So, where to get it? From the Dell site I guessed, in the download section there was an English update for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition.

Since this update just flashes the ROM and puts the new version in it, I guessed this was ok.

But when trying to flash it, it started complaining about being the wrong language.

Apparently French can only be upgraded to French, and since I don't speak French fluently this wasn't practical :)

So, search engine to the rescue. I found this post on Aximsite, a site dedicated to Dell Axim resources.

It seemed logical, get the English and French ROM, make the updater believe the English ROM is actually a French language, and flash.

The process looked obvious to me, so, let's get started!

I opened up the French ROM and English ROM in a hex editor and located the differences:



Note:

This is different from the forum post! It's not the first 7 lines you have to copy paste.

Pasting the first 7 lines results in an Integrity Check error. It's enough to change everything before the "AXIM30".

After having modified the English ROM with the new header, I saved it to the French updated directory, overwriting the original French ROM update. (So, now you have a filename which indicates it's a French ROM, but it's actually the English ROM with the French header)

I did the same for the other image (there is a C and an N image).

Now I ran the updater, which did not give me an error about Integrity Check anymore, and also not about wrong language.

It succesfully updated the ROM and after the Pocket PC restarted, everything was English!

So, now I have an English Pocket PC :)

Ofcourse, the disclaimer on my blog applies especially to this post, as this is not something you should do quickly if you have no technical skills.

So: I (David Cumps) cannot be held responsible for any damage what-so-ever that might come from this post. You do this at your own risk.

20 Comments

  • hey hey, nice :)

    If you ever lose your PDA, the "honest" finder will have a lot of fun trying to update it :p

  • i have a iPAQ HP rx 1950 pocket with italian language. i would like to change this language with english. Until this moment nobody was unable to help me with a good point ore somme softwere, so that's why i write my poblem on this page. I hope somebody knoes sommething about this and can help me. Thanks

  • rx 1950
    lol, i have exactly the same prob, the only thing is that mine is in portuguese.

  • Hello David.

    I saw i'm not the only one who have this problem, so if u r able to help us please do it. Thanks a lot.

    Gerro. ;)

  • Why not try the same technique I used above? :p

    On your own risk ofcourse :)

    Get an english update and the update of the normal language, compare them, and modify the english version so it looks like the other language ;)

  • Costly Friend.  I remove the hat for you, I am with the same problem that you were, bad mine is a HTC TyTN windows furnishes 5.0 in French and I am Brazilian and I need of the Portuguese language, I sent an email for the manufacturer in London and they answered me that the language is recorded in the memory rom and does not have as install another one language unfortunately, if had like install the English Good, for me is more facil of understand, I Believe that I will not have exito, bad itself will know help I thank something that be able to me.  Happinesses.  Adilson Faria

  • on my pocket pc the labguage is dutch how do i change it to english

  • So..... is any solution about change the hp 3950 from german to englis??
    thanks alot

  • I don't own a German HP 3950, so, no :)

    I only described it for the Dell. If people feel adventurous it's up to them to research if they can do something alike with their models, I'm already lucky enough it works for me

  • A also looking for change language from German to English for IPAQ 1950. Do se have any sollution ???

    Rghds !

  • Hi David,

    This sounds interesting as I just bought a French pocket PC and am now having problems synchronising with my english XP SP2 operating system.

    I's like to try your method (sounds like an adventure) but it seems to be just for dells. Mine is an HTC p4350.

    Another problem is that I don't know what a Hex editor is? Is that something that a middleweight in computers like myself will be able ta handle?

    Thanks for all your help,

    Paul

    pdlauener@hotmail.com

  • Hi there,

    I've got a Samsung i750 that is in German and want to change it to English. Can anybody help?
    Please reply as soon as possible.

    Thanks a lot.

  • I have a HTC P4350 and it is in german.... can someone urgently help me...

  • i have also a HTC P4350 but it is in spanish....please help me change it in english...thanks!

  • hey, is it true that writing incorrect(let's say that accidentally) code will mess up my pda forever?

  • what was the name of the editor that you used to open those img files? I have a Axim x50 so i'm going to try the same thing. :D wish me luck.... and thank you for the possible answer.

  • i also have the same problem. Mine is in chinese but i want to change it to english. Does anyone know how to???

  • plz send me ppc english version rom.

  • For the iPAQ 3900 series, this site might be usefull.
    It's the same method as described in this post, except for an iPAQ.
    I'd try it myself but I can't find a Dutch ROMPAQ to change the header of. I guess iPAQ 3900 series doesn't have a Dutch version...

  • hello

    Im omid

    i have a xda3 mobile set

    its language is dutch

    i want to know how can i add english for this windows ce

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