Error Message: One or More of the Characters You Typed in this Field Are Invalid. Try Typing Different...

ID: Q250449

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to change the short or long date style settings in the Regional Settings tool in Control Panel, you may receive the following error message:

One or more of the characters you typed in this field are invalid. Try typing different characters.

After you click OK to dismiss this error message, and then click OK to quit the Regional Settings tool, changes you made to the date settings are not retained.

CAUSE

This issue can occur if the following registry key is missing:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To resolve this issue, add the following registry key and its associated string values, and then restart your computer:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International

iMeasure "1"
iNegCurr "0"
Locale "00000409"
sShortDate "MM/dd/yyyy"
sLongDate "MMMM dd,yyyy"

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbenv kberrmsg kbtool win95 win98 win98se
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb