Windows 2000 Supports Unicode Version 2.0

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SUMMARY

This article describes the support for Unicode in Windows 2000.

MORE INFORMATION

Windows 2000 supports Unicode Version 2.0. If you run a program that uses Unicode on a Windows 2000-based computer, you can input text from another language. For example, a program that uses the English language would support Japanese text. Windows 2000 APIs are fully functional in every language edition of the operating system.

You need to restart your Windows 2000-based computer when change program environments if they use a specific Code Page. For example, you need to restart your computer when you switch between a multi-language program that uses Code Page 932 for Japanese and a Russian program that uses Code Page 932. However, Unicode-based programs do not require that you restart your computer.

Microsoft Windows 95/98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 contain tables that convert text between ANSI character encodings and Unicode. A software developer can add a conversion table to allow Windows to use programs that do not use Unicode, including UNIX and Macintosh character encodings.

Windows 95/98 does not contain native support for Unicode, but does support several wide character API's, such as the TextOutW API.

In Windows NT, IME APIs were either unavailable or added onto non-Asian language editions of Windows NT. A program that does not use Unicode can add code to trap IME messages to use Japanese text.

For information about Unicode version 2.0, please visit the following Web site:

http://www.unicode.org/

Additional query words:

Keywords : win95 win98
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo