How to Install Chinese (Simplified, China) Language Offline

When you open Optional Features and add the “Chinese (Simplified, China)” language pack and FOD, error 0x800F0950 occurs. In some cases, the download may stall completely. This error occurs because the system cannot connect to the Windows Update servers.

Also, if you use the Install-Language PowerShell cmdlet to install “Chinese (Simplified, China)” (loc “le ID: zh-CN), the operation may time out.

You wonder how to install the language pack and FOD offline. Offline installation can be helpful, especially if you have hundreds of computers on a network.

Resolution: Install the Language Pack offline

You can install a language pack and FOD offline by downloading the Languages and Optional Features ISO. This FOD ISO contains cab files for all the FODs released for the Operating System.

[In this example, we’ll see how to install zh-CN, which is the Chinese (Simplified, China) language offline.]

Step 1: Download the FOD ISO

First, download the Language and Optional Features ISO for your Operating System.

Windows 11 Language and Optional Features ISO (Source)
22621.1.220506-1250.ni_release_amd64fre_CLIENT_LOF_PACKAGES_OEM.iso (for Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2.)

26100.1.240331-1435.ge_release_amd64fre_CLIENT_LOF_PACKAGES_OEM.iso (for Windows 11 24H2.)

For Windows 10, download the following ISOs.

Windows 10, version 2004 (and later) Language ISO (Source)
19041.1.191206-1406.vb_release_CLIENTLANGPACKDVD_OEM_MULTI.iso

Windows 10, version 2004 (and later) FOD ISO:
19041.1.191206-1406.vb_release_amd64fre_FOD-PACKAGES_OEM_PT1_amd64fre_MULTI.iso

After downloading the ISO, right-click on it and choose Mount. This assigns the ISO a drive letter.

Related: How to Install a Feature On Demand (FOD) Package Offline

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Step 2: Install the Language Pack and Language FOD from the ISO

Instructions for Windows 10

For Windows 10, the language pack CAB files (e.g., Microsoft-Windows-Client-Language-Pack_x64_zh-cn.cab) will be in the Windows 10 Language ISO. The other CAB files will be in the root folder of the Windows 10 FOD ISO. So, mount both ISOs.

Mount the Language ISO. Let’s say the drive letter of that ISO is E:\

Mount the FOD ISO. Let’s say the drive letter of that ISO is F:\

From an admin Command Prompt, run the following commands:

Dism /online /Add-Package /PackagePath:"E:\x64\langpacks\Microsoft-Windows-Client-Language-Pack_x64_zh-cn.cab"
Dism /online /Add-Package /PackagePath:"F:\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Basic-zh-cn-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~.cab"
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.Basic~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.Handwriting~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.OCR~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.Speech~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.TextToSpeech~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\

And then, please open admin PowerShell and run these commands:

$OldList = Get-WinUserLanguageList
$OldList.Add("zh-CN")
Set-WinUserLanguageList -LanguageList $OldList

Press Y when you see the following Continue with this operation? prompt.

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Instructions for Windows 11

Mount the Language and FOD ISO. Let’s say the Language and FOD ISO is assigned the drive letter F:\.

(For Windows 11, all the source files are under the “LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures” folder in the Windows 11 FOD ISO. There is no separate Languages ISO for Windows 11.)

From an admin Command Prompt, run the following commands:

Dism /online /Add-Package /PackagePath:"F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures\Microsoft-Windows-Client-Language-Pack_x64_zh-cn.cab"
Dism /online /Add-Package /PackagePath:"F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures\Microsoft-Windows-LanguageFeatures-Basic-zh-cn-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~.cab"
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.Basic~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.Handwriting~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.OCR~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.Speech~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures
Dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:"Language.TextToSpeech~~~zh-CN~0.0.1.0" /source:F:\LanguagesAndOptionalFeatures

And then, please open admin PowerShell and run these commands:

$OldList = Get-WinUserLanguageList
$OldList.Add("zh-CN")
Set-WinUserLanguageList -LanguageList $OldList

Press Y when you see the following Continue with this operation? prompt.

 

The Chinese (Simplified, China) language has been added successfully.

That’s it. You can use the above example to install other languages, such as ja-JP (Japanese), it-IT (Italian), and so on. See the list of Locale IDs at Microsoft Learn.