Language drop-down box under the Spelling tab in Windows Mail is empty

Summary

As Windows Vista does not preset the default spell check language in Windows Mail, we needed to do the same via Tools - Options - Spelling tab in Windows Mail. Instructions to set the default spell check language is provided in article 175.

However, some users reported that there were no languages listed under the Language drop-down box in the Spelling tab, as in the figure below.

Workaround

Although we don't know why this problem occurs in the first place, the workaround is to set the spell checker language directly in the registry. To do so, download spellchk_settings.reg from the Attachments section of this article, and save it to the Desktop. Right-click the file and choose Merge. Then, click Yes when prompted for your confirmation. Note that this .REG file sets English as the default language for spell check.

You should no longer get the following error from now on:

This language is no longer available for spell checking. Please select another in the spelling options dialog.