Windows cannot determine which language to install?

Question

I want to install Windows Server 2008 SP2 on VMware Workstation 7.0.1 build-227600.

However during installation I receive the following error and Windows doesn't continue the installation procedure:

Windows cannot determine which language to install?

Any ideas what might be wrong?

Solution 1

This happens if you are trying to do an upgrade with the upgrade disk having a different language than the original installation. It sounds like you have a fresh install, so this most likely isn't your problem. If this is the case, you probably just have a bad disk. Check the MD5 or just redownload.

Solution 2

In my case it was the bootable flash drive left in the server. Also, flash drive can cause windows 7 to throw errors when selecting installation partition.

Comments

[user1717803]

Oh no, It was 1.9 GB to download. I don't wanna download it again :(

[user1717803]

BTW, how can I get MD5 code of a file in Win 7 x64?

[user1717803]

I checked the MD5, I've downloaded file correctly. I tried to install Win Server 2008 again, this time I didn't receive the error, so my problem has been solved.

[user1717803]

Getting MD5 & SHA1 Hash code of a file in Win 7 => sevenforums.com/general-discussion/…

[Bill McKenzie]

AHA!! I figured out the problem. For this very specific version of Windows: Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, you CANNOT specify a product key in the autounattend.xml file. If you do, you get the error reported for this thread, that is, the install fails with an Install error pop-up with message "Windows cannot determine which language to install." This happens if there is a product key specified under 'UserData' in the 'Microsoft-Windows-Setup' component in the 'windowsPE' pass, and/or if there is a product key specified in the 'Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup' component in the 'specialize' pass.