Get rid of the Language Bar

keyboardlanguagelanguage-barwindows-11windows-registry

I have English, Swedish, and Polish loaded on the system. I have created my own multilingual keyboard definition using the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. It supports all three languages. I call it Swedish - EXtended.

I want to get rid of the Language Bar since I'm not going to switch keyboards.

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I think I've done all you can do in Settings. I have currently two keyboards in Settings: Swedish QWERTY for English (United States) and Swedish - EXtended for Swedish; no keyboard for Polish. I've also modified Advanced keyboard settings.

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In an earlier attempt I purged the US keyboard 00000409 and the British keyboard 00000809 from several entries in the Registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout\Preload

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
    
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\KeyboardLayout\Preload
    
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload

However, the result was not what I wanted. The Language Bar was still visible but I lost my multilingual keyboard Swedish - EXtended.

I'd like to understand what controls Language Bar in Windows and, in particular, how to get rid of it.

I know that I can easily remove the English (United Kingdom) keyboard by purging 00000809 in the Registry, but it doesn't solve all. I've also tried to add Swedish - EXtended and remove Swedish QWERTY for English, but it didn't kill the Language Bar.

EDIT: I have four Windows 11 PCs. I use Swedish - EXtended everywhere, but on only one I still have the Language Bar. I tried to copy the relevant Settings and Registry entries with no success.

Best Answer

I managed to disable the language bar on my Windows 11 by doing these actions :

  • In Settings, type "Advanced keyboard settings" into the search field and click it
  • In the Advanced keyboard settings window, enable "Use the desktop language bar when it's available"
  • Click "Language bar options" and set Language bar to "Hidden"
  • Click OK.

This disabled the language bar on the traybar. Setting only one of the above two settings is not enough.

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