⏲️ Configuring UK Regional Settings on Windows Servers with PowerShell
When building out cloud-hosted or automated deployments of Windows Servers, especially for UK-based organisations, it’s easy to overlook regional settings. But these seemingly small configurations — like date/time formats, currency symbols, or keyboard layouts — can have a big impact on usability, application compatibility, and user experience.
In this post, I’ll show how I automate this using a simple PowerShell script that sets all relevant UK regional settings in one go.
🔍 Why Regional Settings Matter
Out-of-the-box, Windows often defaults to en-US settings:
- Date format becomes
MM/DD/YYYY - Decimal separators switch to
.instead of, - Currency symbols use
$ - Time zones default to US-based settings
- Keyboard layout defaults to US (which can be infuriating!)
For UK-based organisations, this can:
- Cause confusion in logs or spreadsheets
- Break date parsing in scripts or apps expecting
DD/MM/YYYY - Result in the wrong characters being typed (e.g.,
@vs") - Require manual fixing after deployment
Automating this ensures consistency across environments, saves time, and avoids annoying regional mismatches.
🔧 Script Overview
I created a PowerShell script that:
- Sets the system locale and input methods
- Configures UK date/time formats
- Applies the British English language pack (if needed)
- Sets the time zone to GMT Standard Time (London)
The script can be run manually, included in provisioning pipelines, or dropped into automation tools like Task Scheduler or cloud-init processes.
✅ Prerequisites
To run this script, you should have:
- Administrator privileges
- PowerShell 5.1+ (default on most supported Windows Server versions)
- Optional: Internet access (if language pack needs to be added)
🔹 The Script: Set-UKRegionalSettings.ps1
# Set system locale and formats to English (United Kingdom)
Set-WinSystemLocale -SystemLocale en-GB
Set-WinUserLanguageList -LanguageList en-GB -Force
Set-Culture en-GB
Set-WinHomeLocation -GeoId 242
Set-TimeZone -Id "GMT Standard Time"
# Optional reboot prompt
Write-Host "UK regional settings applied. A reboot is recommended for all changes to take effect."
🚀 How to Use It
✈️ Option 1: Manual Execution
- Open PowerShell as Administrator
- Run the script:
🔢 Option 2: Include in Build Pipeline or Image
For Azure VMs or cloud images, consider running this as part of your deployment process via:
- Custom Script Extension in ARM/Bicep
- cloud-init or Terraform provisioners
- Group Policy Startup Script
⚡ Quick Tips
- Reboot after running to ensure all settings apply across UI and system processes.
- For non-UK keyboards (like US physical hardware), you may also want to explicitly set
InputLocale. - Want to validate the settings? Use:
📂 Registry Verification: Per-User and Default Settings
If you're troubleshooting or validating the configuration for specific users, regional settings are stored in the Windows Registry under:
👤 For Each User Profile
You can find the user SIDs by looking under HKEY_USERS or using:
🧵 For New Users (Default Profile)
This determines what settings new user profiles inherit on first logon.
You can script changes here if needed, but always test carefully to avoid corrupting profile defaults.
🌟 Final Thoughts
Small tweaks like regional settings might seem minor, but they go a long way in making your Windows Server environments feel localised and ready for your users.
Automating them early in your build pipeline means one less thing to worry about during post-deployment configuration.
Let me know if you want a version of this that handles multi-user scenarios or works across multiple OS versions!