Do not sync language preferences settings

ComputerNative Intune settingDisableLanguageSettingSync

Supported on SUPPORTED_Windows_11_0_22H1 (defined in the Windows templates)

23H2 · 1.0

What it does

Prevent the "language preferences" group from syncing to and from this PC. This turns off and disables the "languages preferences" group on the "Windows backup" settings page in PC settings. If you enable this policy setting, the "language preferences", group will not be synced. Use the option "Allow users to turn language preferences syncing on" so that syncing is turned off by default but not disabled. If you do not set or disable this setting, syncing of the "language preferences" group is on by default and configurable by the user.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry key: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync
Value name: DisableLanguageSettingSync
When enabled: DWORD 2
When disabled: DWORD 0

Why it needs changes for Intune

Policy references a Windows supportedOn definition.
ADMX-INTUNE-WINDOWS-SUPPORTEDON-REFERENCE

In Intune

Native Intune setting: Yes — Policy CSP

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/SettingsSync/DisableLanguageSettingSyncSettingsSync on Microsoft LearnADMX-backed: Windows ships this template, so it is set with the template's own values, without an import.Windows builds listed: 10.0.26100, 10.0.22621.5682, 10.0.19041.6141.

From Microsoft's Policy CSP DDF files (DDF v2 Files, February 2026), read 18 Oct 2026.

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
Allow users to turn "language preferences" syncing on.	Checkbox	`DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride`	On (1) or off (0)

Configure and deploy

Choose a state and the option values; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · Computer · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync]
"DisableLanguageSettingSync"=dword:00000002
"DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride"=dword:00000000

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Do not sync language preferences settings
# Name: DisableLanguageSettingSync
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: SettingSync.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync' -Name 'DisableLanguageSettingSync' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 2

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync' -Name 'DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

These deployment candidates come from the ADMX template; they are separate from the native CSP mapping above.

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.
The generated payload is incomplete because one or more ADMX element values were not supplied: CheckBox_UserOverride

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_SettingSync/DisableLanguageSettingSync

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Do not sync language preferences settings
# Name: DisableLanguageSettingSync
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: SettingSync.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync' -Name 'DisableLanguageSettingSync' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 2
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync\DisableLanguageSettingSync') | Out-Null
}

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync' -Name 'DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 0
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync\DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Do not sync language preferences settings
# Name: DisableLanguageSettingSync
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: SettingSync.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync' -Name 'DisableLanguageSettingSync' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 2

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync' -Name 'DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

History 3 retained releases

22H2 · 3.015 Jul 2024
- Added in this release.

1 later release left it unchanged.

Template

Internal name: DisableLanguageSettingSync
Namespace: Microsoft.Policies.SettingSync
Template file: SettingSync.admx
Release: Windows 11 23H2 · 1.0 · file set d784d0ea5f14a680…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="Machine" displayName="$(string.DisableLanguageSettingSync)" explainText="$(string.DisableLanguageSettingSync_Help)" key="Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync" name="DisableLanguageSettingSync" presentation="$(presentation.DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride)" valueName="DisableLanguageSettingSync" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.SettingSync:SettingSync" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows_11_0_22H1" />
      <enabledValue>
        <decimal value="2" />
      </enabledValue>
      <disabledValue>
        <decimal value="0" />
      </disabledValue>
      <elements>
        <boolean id="CheckBox_UserOverride" valueName="DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride">
          <trueValue>
            <decimal value="0" />
          </trueValue>
          <falseValue>
            <decimal value="1" />
          </falseValue>
        </boolean>
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="DisableLanguageSettingSyncUserOverride" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <checkBox refId="CheckBox_UserOverride">Allow users to turn "language preferences" syncing on.</checkBox>
      </presentation>

Supported platforms and category

Microsoft.Policies.SettingSync:category:SettingSync
<category displayName="$(string.SettingSyncCategory)" name="SettingSync" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents" />
    </category>
Microsoft.Policies.SettingSync:unresolved:Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows_11_0_22H1
<unresolved reference="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows_11_0_22H1" />
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:WindowsComponents
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsComponents)" explainText="$(string.WindowsComponents_Help)" name="WindowsComponents" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.SettingSync:category:SettingSync
<category displayName="$(string.SettingSyncCategory)" name="SettingSync" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.SettingSync:SettingSyncCategory">Sync your settings</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:WindowsComponents
<category displayName="$(string.WindowsComponents)" explainText="$(string.WindowsComponents_Help)" name="WindowsComponents" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents">Windows Components</string><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:WindowsComponents_Help">Contains settings for operating system components.</string></strings>