Language used by the SQL Server binaries

SQL Server binaries come in various languages, such as 日本語 (Japanese), French, and English. It’s pretty easy to determine the language once SQL Server is *running*. A simple query does the trick:

However, if the instance is already down for some reason, and you want to install a cumulative update but aren’t sure what language you should install, you can check the system registry for the Locale ID, or lcid, of the installed language.

Checking the registry consists of the following steps:

  1. Run regedit.exe
  2. Navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Instance Names\SQL
  3. Find the name of the SQL Server instance you want to patch in the list, as shown here:

    The list of SQL Server instances installed is shown in the right-hand pane.

  4. Note the value listed in the Data column for the instance you’re interested in.
  5. Navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\<value from step 4 above>\MSSQLServer\CurrentVersion

    Finding the SQL Server Language, or lcid, from the Registry.

  6. Lookup the value shown for Language in the chart below:
╔══════╦════════╦════════════════════╦═════════════════════╗
║ lcid ║ hex    ║     language       ║       Alias         ║
╠══════╬════════╬════════════════════╬═════════════════════╣
║ 1033 ║ 0x0409 ║ us_english         ║ English             ║
║ 1031 ║ 0x0407 ║ Deutsch            ║ German              ║
║ 1036 ║ 0x040C ║ Français           ║ French              ║
║ 1041 ║ 0x0411 ║ 日本語              ║ Japanese            ║
║ 1030 ║ 0x0406 ║ Dansk              ║ Danish              ║
║ 3082 ║ 0x0C0A ║ Español            ║ Spanish             ║
║ 1040 ║ 0x0410 ║ Italiano           ║ Italian             ║
║ 1043 ║ 0x0413 ║ Nederlands         ║ Dutch               ║
║ 2068 ║ 0x0814 ║ Norsk              ║ Norwegian           ║
║ 2070 ║ 0x0816 ║ Português          ║ Portuguese          ║
║ 1035 ║ 0x040B ║ Suomi              ║ Finnish             ║
║ 1053 ║ 0x041D ║ Svenska            ║ Swedish             ║
║ 1029 ║ 0x0405 ║ čeština            ║ Czech               ║
║ 1038 ║ 0x040E ║ magyar             ║ Hungarian           ║
║ 1045 ║ 0x0415 ║ polski             ║ Polish              ║
║ 1048 ║ 0x0418 ║ română             ║ Romanian            ║
║ 1050 ║ 0x041A ║ hrvatski           ║ Croatian            ║
║ 1051 ║ 0x041B ║ slovenčina         ║ Slovak              ║
║ 1060 ║ 0x0424 ║ slovenski          ║ Slovenian           ║
║ 1032 ║ 0x0408 ║ ελληνικά           ║ Greek               ║
║ 1026 ║ 0x0402 ║ български          ║ Bulgarian           ║
║ 1049 ║ 0x0419 ║ русский            ║ Russian             ║
║ 1055 ║ 0x041F ║ Türkçe             ║ Turkish             ║
║ 2057 ║ 0x0809 ║ British            ║ British English     ║
║ 1061 ║ 0x0425 ║ eesti              ║ Estonian            ║
║ 1062 ║ 0x0426 ║ latviešu           ║ Latvian             ║
║ 1063 ║ 0x0427 ║ lietuvių           ║ Lithuanian          ║
║ 1046 ║ 0x0416 ║ Português (Brasil) ║ Brazilian           ║
║ 1028 ║ 0x0404 ║ 繁體中文            ║ Traditional Chinese ║
║ 1042 ║ 0x0412 ║ 한국어              ║ Korean              ║
║ 2052 ║ 0x0804 ║ 简体中文            ║ Simplified Chinese  ║
║ 1025 ║ 0x0401 ║ Arabic             ║ Arabic              ║
║ 1054 ║ 0x041E ║ ไทย                ║ Thai                ║
║ 1044 ║ 0x0414 ║ norsk (bokmål)     ║ Bokmål              ║
╚══════╩════════╩════════════════════╩═════════════════════╝

The chart above can be obtained from a running SQL Server instance using this query: