Japanese file names can't be opened?

[guest]

I have image files or manga files that are in Japanese with a japanese file name, like xxxx.jpg. My computer can't open them unless I rename them to English, whatever it is. Is there a way to keep the original names and still functional? I am running on Windows XP. Thanks.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by guest

I have image files or manga files that are in Japanese with a japanese file name, like xxxx.jpg. My computer can't open them unless I rename them to English, whatever it is. Is there a way to keep the original names and still functional? I am running on Windows XP. Thanks.

If you have the original XP disc, couldn't you install the Japanese font into the OS from the disc? XP really should be able to handle all this...

And if you watch as much Anime and check anime news as often as I do, it would be best if your computer can display Japanese fonts anyway.^_^

[Jinto]

Which application exactly cannot open them? Paint?
In system somewhre (sorry have a german Windows) one can enable east asian language support (maybe that will make things more compatible).

[Nicholi]

Some applications just won't support unicode filenames and paths (ACDSee, grr how many more versions will it take!). MSPaint should be one of the few which does in fact work, though obviously that isn't much of an useful app to view images.

I haven't really located a nice unicode app myself for viewing images.

[GHDpro]

Sigh. It's been discussed before.

Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Advanced tab.

Then set the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to Japanese.

Even ACDSee won't have much of a problem with Japanese filenames then (although it still won't "see" unicode folders inside ZIP files).

[Jinto]

Before you can do that, you'll have to activate the east asian language support (otherwise you cannot choose japanese)

[WanderingKnight]

Before you can do that, you'll have to activate the east asian language support (otherwise you cannot choose japanese)

And you'll need the win XP disc to install the fonts

[Jinto]

That is correct *g*

yet there might exist some programs, that just do not want to support double width characters... no matter what

[guest]

Done and it worked. Thanks.

While I was changing the setting, I noticed that you can only set it to one non-Unicode program. Why can't I set it to as many programs as possible?

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by guest

Done and it worked. Thanks.

While I was changing the setting, I noticed that you can only set it to one non-Unicode program. Why can't I set it to as many programs as possible?

I presume you meant "Language" instead of "Program" and the reason is because the system, by default, treats the programs with that language support. If you had multiple languages going, it'd be quite a mess - certain programs will only run properly under certain language support, and the computer doesn't know which language the program matches with (if it did, you wouldn't need to set such a thing).

If you're working with programs like that and you can't be bothered to always be changing the language, get Applocale (free from Microsoft). It lets you run a program under a certain non-unicode-support language, and you can create a shortcut so that the program always runs under Applocale. Pretty nifty.

[WanderingKnight]

If you're working with programs like that and you can't be bothered to always be changing the language, get Applocale (free from Microsoft). It lets you run a program under a certain non-unicode-support language, and you can create a shortcut so that the program always runs under Applocale. Pretty nifty.

Maybe it's just me, but I could never get that damn thing to work fine on me -_-; (not that I tried too hard, either).

[GHDpro]

Now the only problem of changing the "Language for non-Unicode programs" setting is that some applications (like Nero CD-DVD Speed) take it as a cue to turn their entire interface into Japanese, which can be quite annoying. But obviously you can always turn the setting back.

Also I've noticed all backslashes are turned into yen signs in filepaths. But that only looks odd: it doesn't really cause any problems.

Last, somebody mentioned a MS tool called "AppLocale" before, which supposedly allows you to pick seperate languages for different applications, but I'm not sure if it applies here (where the filenames are in Japanese, as then the Windows Explorer might also need to play along).

[Ledgem]

WinXP should have support for foreign characters regardless; if it can't access those files, it's indicative of the fact that East Asian Languages aren't installed. I don't believe that the non-unicode support has anything to do with it with the exception of certain programs (for example, I noticed that Winamp had some difficulty accessing files with Japanese in the title - this was fixed when running it under AppLocale with Japanese as the language). Explorer doesn't seem to have a problem.

Also, you can use AppLocale if your system is under Japanese settings. It sounds silly, but as GHDPro pointed out, some programs change their entire language settings based on that non-unicode support setting. Running those programs under "English" through AppLocale usually fixes it and makes them behave normally.