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Localization and ArcGIS Server on Amazon Web Services

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The ArcGIS for Server Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) are built on top of Amazon-provided AMIs that have the operating system language set to English.

You can optionally change the language of the operating system and install additional language packs to localize ArcGIS. In a multiple-machine site, you would do this on the site server machine. In most cases you would not need to log in to the additional GIS server instances, so localizing them would be unnecessary.

Operating system languages provided with the AMI

The ArcGIS for Server AMIs have several operating system language packs preinstalled by Amazon. The preinstalled languages are English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Korean, Japanese.

Install additional operating system languages

If the operating system language you want to use is not included on the AMI, you can download and install the language pack from Microsoft.

Windows Server 2012 language pack

Change the operating system language

Once your language pack is installed, follow these steps to change the language of the operating system:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Control Panel, then double-click Regional and Language Options.
  2. Click the Keyboards and Languages tab.
  3. Click the Choose a display language drop-down arrow and choose the language you want to use.
  4. Configure any other needed options using the other tabs on the Region and Language dialog box.

    Be aware that if you choose Change System Locale, you will be required to reboot the instance for the changes to take effect. Applications that do not support Unicode may no longer work as expected.

Installing ArcGIS language packs

ArcGIS language packs are available for ArcGIS for Server and ArcGIS for Desktop within a few months of the initial product release in English. Available languages include Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, and Spanish.

You can download these language packs onto your EC2 instance by connecting to My Esri.

Changing the language displayed by ArcGIS for Server

ArcGIS Server Manager and the Services Directory use the language set for your web browser. After you install the ArcGIS for Server language pack, set the language for your browser.

    Internet Explorer
  1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools > Internet Options > General > Languages.
  2. Add the language you want your browser to display.
  3. Move this language to the top of the language list.
  4. Click OK to close all open dialog boxes.
  5. Open ArcGIS Server Manager or the Services Directory.
    Firefox
  1. In Firefox, click Firefox > Options > Options.
  2. Click Content.
  3. Find the Languages section of the dialog box and click Choose.
  4. Add the language you want the browser to display.
  5. Move this language to the top of the language list.
  6. Click OK to close all open dialog boxes.
  7. Open ArcGIS Server Manager or the Services Directory.

Changing the language displayed by ArcGIS for Desktop

After installing a language pack, ArcGIS for Desktop should immediately honor the operating system display language (instructions for configuring the display language are at the beginning of this document). If for any reason you need them, the explicit instructions for setting the display language for ArcGIS for Desktop are below:

  1. Open ArcGIS Administrator and click Start > All Programs > ArcGIS > ArcGIS Administrator.
  2. In the left menu of ArcGIS Administrator, click the root node for ArcGIS containing your machine name.
  3. Click the Advanced button.
  4. Choose a Display Language from the drop-down list and click Save.
  5. Click OK to close ArcGIS Administrator.