If your organization uses Windows XP, MUI will run on computers that are running Windows XP Professional, but not on computers running Windows XP Home Edition. MUI is sold only through Microsoft Volume Licensing programs such as the Microsoft Open License Program (MOLP/Open), Select, and Enterprise agreement.
If your organization uses Windows Vista, there are two types of language files:
- Windows Vista Multilingual User Inerface Pack (MUI)
- Windows Vista Language Interface Pack (LIP)
MUIs provide a translated version of all or most of the resources for a language and locale. MUIs require a license and are only available with Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Enterprise editions.
LIPs provide a translated version of the most widely-used areas of the user interface. LIPs are available for download free of charge on the Microsoft Web site, and most LIPs can be installed on any version of Windows Vista. Because the entire user interface is not translated, LIPs require at least one parent language. The parts of the user interface that are not translated will display in this parent language. When you download a LIP, you are given the parent language requirements for that LIP. The parent language must be installed before the LIP can be installed.