Pro-Exchange - How to set the default client language to be used in Outlook Web Access

By default when you open your mailbox located on an Exchange 2007 Mailbox server using Outlook Web Access, you will receive a logon page in the language set for your browser, as can be seen below.

The first time however that you open your mailbox homed on an Exchange 2007 mailbox server using Outlook Web Access, you will be given a second page that will allow you to define your default client language that should be used when you open your mailbox using OWA:

The question is, can you set as an administrator a default client language, that will eliminate the need for a user to select a primary language for Outlook Web Access? And the answer is YES, and the way to do it, is yet again, the Shell :-)

When you use the EMS to go to the properties of your OWA virtual directory, you will notice two attributes that you may want to change:
- DefaultClientLanguage = the primary language for Outlook Web Access
- LogonandErrorLanguage = the language used for the initial logon page and error messages

By default the value of these two attributes are set to 0 which means that the language selection is undefined!

------
[PS] C:>Get-OwaVirtualDirectory "owa (default web site)" | fl *language

DefaultClientLanguage : 0
LogonAndErrorLanguage : 0
------

You can change the language by using the cmdlet Set-OwaVirtualDirectory and define the Local ID (Decimal!) value for the preferred language. For Dutch (Belgian) that is 2067. For a complete list of LCID values, please check this site:
http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/reference/lcid-all.mspx

--------------
[PS] C:>Get-OwaVirtualDirectory "owa (default web site)" | Set-OwaVirtualDirectory -DefaultClientLanguage 2067 -LogonAndErrorLanguage 2067
[PS] C:>Get-OwaVirtualDirectory "owa (default web site)" | fl *language

DefaultClientLanguage : 2067
LogonAndErrorLanguage : 2067
--------------

When you browse to your OWA logon page, you will get Dutch (Belgian) even when you have configure your browser to use a different language, as can be seen below:

When a user opens his/her mailbox the first time with OWA, he/she will not be prompted to select a primary language for OWA anymore :-)

A user is still able to change the language selection for his or her own mailbox using the Options menu in OWA!

- Ilse