Display Non-Latin Characters in Windows Explorer (Win 10 and 11)

You may have set the Windows to display a language that uses Latin characters (e.g., English, French, and Indonesian). Then, displaying non-Latin filenames (e.g., Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) might cause problems. For example, if I have filenames in Chinese, such as 中文文件名.docx. Windows Explorer may display it similar to either ������W.docx or ñññσñσÑ≤ªW.docx.

To fix this behavior, try the following steps. Although we use the case of Chinese characters, this method should also work in other non-Latin characters (e.g., Arabic, Korean, and Japanese).

A. Windows limitations

As in our experience, any setting modifications in Section B cannot automatically change the display name of the existing files, as in Fig 1. In addition, we have not found any third-party software that can change the “unreadable” characters to the correct language characters.

Therefore, there is a way to know whether or not you succeeded in setting up your Windows.

1. You need a file from another computer in the corresponding language, which displays its filename correctly.
2. Archive the file in a *.zip format to preserve its settings.

You can use this *.zip file to validate the settings modifications. After you change any settings in Section B, open the zip to see whether your Windows can correctly display the filename.

B. Change Windows settings

Method 1: Change language settings

Installing language

Before you can change the display, prior install the respective language as follows ​[1], [2]​:

1. go to Windows Settings or press the Windows key + X, and select Settings,
2. click Time & Language, and then click on Language,
3. under the Language settings, you will find the list of installed languages in the Preferred languages, as in Fig 2,
4. if you cannot find the required language (e.g., Chinese), you need to install it by clicking Add a language. Otherwise, skip steps 4 to 6,

5. find the required language name, then click Next, as in Fig 3-A,
6. click all the required features, as in Fig 3-B.
   Note: you can un-check the Set as my Windows display language option if you don’t want to change the primary language.

Changing language

After you install the corresponding language, you will return to the language settings page, as in Fig 2. To display non-Latin characters, there are several choices:

• Option 1: Change the display language.
  This option will change all the Windows displays, including Taskbar, Start, File Explorer, and Settings. To change the display language, do as follows:
  1. as in Fig 2, under the Language settings, select a language from the list,
  2. click OK.

• Option 2: Change the system locale.
  This option will not change the display language but only changes the default character set (letters, symbols, and numbers) and font for non-Unicode programs. To change the system locale, do as follows:
  1. as in Fig 2, under the Related settings, click Administrative language settings,
  2. under the Administrative tab, click Change system locale..., as in Fig 4,
  3. change the system locale to the corresponding language (e.g., Chinese),
  4. click OK,
  5. restart the computer.

• Option 3: Change both display language and system locale.
  If neither option 1 nor 2 could solve our issue, try to change both the display language and the system locale to the corresponding language.

Method 2: Install and unhide fonts

If changing the language settings does not help, try to change the font settings. There are two options, unhide the fonts ​[3]​ and download fonts for all languages ​[4]​.

Option 1: Unhide the fonts

1. Click the Start menu in the taskbar or Press the Windows key,
2. then directly type Control Panel, and click Open, as in Fig 5,

3. under the Control Panel, type font in the search box (upper right),
4. then select Change Font Settings,
5. un-tick the option Hide fonts based on language settings, as in Fig 6,
6. click OK.

Option 2: Download fonts for all languages

Make sure that you have tried other options to no avail. Downloading fonts for all languages requires a considerable storage space (up to several hundreds of MB), and do as follows:

1. go to Windows Settings or press Windows key + X, and select Settings,
2. click Personalization, and then click on Fonts,
3. under Related Settings, click Download fonts for all languages, as in Fig 7,
4. when a message pops up about requiring a significant amount of space, click OK,
5. wait for the windows to download all the necessary fonts.

References