The hardware matches the description; no problems, although it does seem to heat up quite quickly – we’ll have to see how that develops.
However, the software wasn’t working at all.
The PC was delivered with Windows 11 configured in Dutch (display language, keyboard, system accounts).
Here’s what I had to do to fix it:
- Complete the initial setup wizard (OOBE), which was entirely in Dutch, by bypassing the Microsoft account screen
- Change the display language via Windows Settings — to no avail; the interface remained in Dutch.
- Disable Fast Startup, followed by multiple restarts and log-offs – still to no avail.
- Completely reset Windows via ‘Reset this PC’ with a cloud download (fresh Microsoft image) – the wizard still started up in Dutch, confirming that the regional settings had been hard-coded at the system/firmware level by the refurbisher.
- Forced the language change via the command line (PowerShell: Set-WinSystemLocale, Set-Culture, Set-WinUserLanguageList, Set-WinUILanguageOverride).
- Manually copy the regional settings to the system accounts and the sign-in screen via the Region panel (control intl.cpl → Administration tab → Copy settings) – it was this final, non-trivial step that finally resolved the issue.
I spent over four hours on it and I don’t think that’s quite right.
What’s more, the language was really deeply ingrained and wouldn’t go away – it was a real pain. The computer was a present for my wife and, in the end, she wasn’t able to use it as soon as planned.
I don’t know what happened on your end, but someone who isn’t technically minded, or isn’t bilingual in Dutch, or isn’t comfortable with AI (thanks, Claude) would never have been able to sort out the problem.
I hope this hasn’t happened to any other users; if it has, I feel for them.
Have a good day