[GNC] GnuCash Language

Thu Sep 10 09:56:36 EDT 2026

Years ago here I had a requirement that the same Gnucash file was available in both French and English on the same (Windows) system. With the group’s help, I found that it was fairly straightforward to start Gnucash in a command shell established to use another language.

There will be posts from me in the archives here about it. I’ll do a search if it becomes important to you.

> On Sep 10, 2026, at 9:09 AM, Pedro Albuquerque via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
> Here goes, attached the changed file and an image. Not sure the list accepts this.
> 
> 
> -----
> Regards,
> Pedro Albuquerque
> [Join StarLink](https://starlink.com?referral=RC-DF-11719992-38576-14)
> 
>> Em 10/09/2026 às 14:01, Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com> escreveu:
>> 
>> Hi Pedro,
>> 
>> I made the changes and saved the file as `environment.local` in the same directory. After launching GNUCash, I could see that the language had changed to Portuguese. Please refer the file and screen shot. Not sure why it is not working for you
>> 
>> Saludos Cordiales
>> 
>> Murugan
>> 
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> From: Pedro Albuquerque <pmra at protonmail.com>
>> Sent: 10 September 2026 13:44
>> To: Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com>
>> Cc: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org <gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org>; adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net>; John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
>> Subject: Re[2]: [GNC] GnuCash Language
>> 
>> Thank you Murugan, for the suggestion.
>> 
>> If I rename the file like that, .local becomes the file extension. Not sure if that is what you want. Anyway, GC still starts in English.
>> 
>> -----
>> Regards,
>> Pedro Albuquerque
>> [Join StarLink](https://starlink.com?referral=RC-DF-11719992-38576-14)
>> 
>>> Em 10/09/2026 às 12:48, Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com> escreveu:
>>> 
>>> Pedro
>>> 
>>> Can you save the environment file changes to file name environment.local and restart GNUCash
>>> 
>>> Saludos Cordiales
>>> 
>>> Murugan
>>> 
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+m.muruganandam=hotmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of Pedro Albuquerque via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>>> Sent: 10 September 2026 05:21
>>> To: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
>>> Cc: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org <gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org>; adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [GNC] GnuCash Language
>>> 
>>> Hello, and thank you all for the comments.
>>> 
>>> Tracefile (today 4h 54m) content:
>>> * 04:53:55 WARN <gnc.backend.dbi> [gnc_module_init_backend_dbi()] No DBD
>>> drivers found
>>> * 04:54:04 WARN <gnc.app-utils.gsettings> [transform_settings()] Failed to
>>> load preferences transformation file
>>> 'D:\Programas\Escritório\gnucash/share\gnucash/pref_transformations.xml'
>>> 
>>> John, obviously, Windows environment variables and GnuCash environment file
>>> were modified by me. But there is some kind of issue, yes.
>>> 
>>> As you can see in the image, command systeminfo shows pt as my locale, but
>>> running:
>>> 
>>> C:\Windows\System32>dism /online /get-intl
>>> 
>>> Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
>>> Version: 10.0.26100.5074
>>> 
>>> Image Version: 10.0.26200.8037
>>> 
>>> Reporting online international settings.
>>> 
>>> Default system UI language : pt-PT
>>> The UI language fallback is : en-US
>>> System locale : pt-PT
>>> Default time zone : GMT Standard Time
>>> Active keyboard(s) : 0816:00000816
>>> Keyboard layered driver : PC/AT Enhanced Keyboard (101/102-Key)
>>> 
>>> Installed language(s): pt-PT
>>> Type : Partially localized language, MUI type.
>>> Fallback Languages en-US
>>> 
>>> The operation completed successfully.
>>> 
>>> Shows some partial fault, I don't know why or what. GnuCash runs fine in
>>> another laptop with Win10. This one was upgraded to Win11 following this
>>> procedure:
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_p3dBrr_Sg. It uses a Win server version, pt
>>> language based. Maybe that is the issue. Funny thing is it only affects
>>> GnuCash, all other programs recognize pt as default.
>>> 
>>> -----
>>> Regards,
>>> Pedro Albuquerque
>>> Join StarLink
>>> 
>>> Em 10/09/2026 às 00:56, "John Ralls" <jralls at ceridwen.us> escreveu:
>>>> The install-time language dialog box on Windows is just for the installer’s
>>> UI. All of the GnuCash and Gtk translations are included in the
>>> gnucash-xx-setup.exe.
>>>> 
>>>> From the screenshot it looks like you’re unable to get GnuCash to give you
>>> Portuguese no matter what: Setting LANG=pt_PT in the environment file would
>>> override the system locale setting.
>>>> 
>>>> Is there anything in the trace file?
>>> (https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Tracefile)
>>>> 
>>>> Regards,
>>>> John Ralls
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On Sep 9, 2026, at 14:18, Adrien Monteleone
>>> <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Were you not given a choice at install time?
>>>>> 
>>>>> I vaguely recall threads here of some mixed-locale systems having issues
>>> though. If that is the case with your setup, it could be why GnuCash defaulted
>>> to English. Do a search just on this list and you should find the solution. I
>>> also vaguely recall there being a step of editing a locale file to resolve it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 9/9/26 05:23, Pedro Albuquerque via gnucash-user wrote:
>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>> I'm looking for ideas on how to convince GnuCash to use the default system
>>> language. Can anyone think of something? Because I can't. Thank you in
>>> advance.
>>>>> 
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> <environment_file_folder_2026-09-10_14-04.png>
> <environment.local>
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