Is it possible to set ANSI encoding per application in windows

Question

Windows localization has a dialog that that set a locale for all applications that do not support Unicode, it looks something like this on xp similar on other flavors of windows:

Is there a way to specify this per app as apposed to globally for the entire os. Say I have 2 different ansi apps i want to run one in Russian and one in Chinese on the same machine, is that possible?

Glossa

This is the exact problem Unicode was invented to solve. – Alexalexa

@MarkRansom Yep, but many applications have no Unicode versions ;) – Pede

Run chcp.exe before starting the program. – Stockish

chcp may work only with console applications. For any GUI it is no use. – Pede

Answer 1

Microsoft once provided a freeware called Microsoft AppLocale. It allows executing apps with a different locale than the system's default. After setting up, you'll get a shortcut that runs your app via AppLocale.

There are two problems, however:

1. AppLocale is no longer supported and its download page is no longer available. You can download it from Softpedia though. I checked its digital certificate; Softpedia has not tampered with it.
2. Its installer may end with an error on Windows Vista and later. To install it successfully, you must open PowerShell (or Command Prompt) with administrative privileges, navigate to the folder containing apploc.msi and run it from there. (Credit for discovering this goes to TechJourney.)

Pede

Just set everything up with it, this is really helpful thanks Maxumus Check out this post if you want to run it in an automated(batched) way opcode0x90.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/patch-for-applocale – Glossa

Worked perfectly (to have Mp3tag read 8 bit encoded MP3 files in codepage 1251 rather than my OS setting 1252). - When on Vista and upwards, remember to explicitly install as Admin. – Riobard

The link is no longer available except on the Wayback Machine: web.archive.org/web/20150201002022/http://www.microsoft.com/… – Jo

Answer 2

There's a free and open-source utility called Locale Emulator that can run other apps with a locale (code page) of your choice, other than the system default.

As of this writing, Locale Emulator claims to be compatible with Windows 10 version 1803 (which is the latest version of Windows).

Nuli

This is easy and intuitive to use. It's mostly used for Japanese games but if one wants to launch an app in a different language, they'll simply need to choose "Run with Application Profile" – Cazares

For those interested how it works, probably it is here github.com/xupefei/Locale-Emulator-Core/blob/master/… – Indicator

And no way to contact the project maintainer that I can see. (•_•) – Fearless

Unfortunately, it does change locale, but not the codepage – Paynter

Answer 3

The Microsoft AppLocale utility isn't compatible with Windows 10, in which case you can reach the same codepage default settings for non-UTF-8 applications as follows;

1. Start > Settings > Time & Language
2. Region & language
3. Related settings > Additional date, time & region settings
4. Region > Change location
5. Administrative tab
6. Language for non-Unicode programs > Change system locale...
7. Select your locale and then click OK, you will then need to restart

Apologies for the instructions going the long way around, but I figured if Micros, you should still bump in to the right settings

Shortchange

This would set locale for the whole OS not an individual app – Glossa

This does NOT work at all (for me). – Propitiatory