Can’t Type @ and Other Symbols in Windows 8

[Fix] Can’t Type @ and Other Symbols in Windows 8, Incorrect Character Appears on Screen

Many Windows 8 users (mainly Indian users) are facing a weird problem. Whenever they try to type @ symbol, an incorrect character " (double-quote) appears on screen. Same thing happens when they try to type double-quote ("), the @ symbol appears on screen. It becomes very frustrating as the users can't type their email ID in emails, etc.

The same problem also occurs with some other special characters such as #, ~, `, | and \.

Now the question comes why does this problem occur and why are only a few Windows 8 users facing this annoying problem?

The answer is simple! This problem is coming mainly in those Windows 8 systems which contain Windows 8 downloaded from Microsoft Store using the Upgrade assistant and which were not upgraded to Windows 8 but the user did a clean installation of Windows 8.

Actually when you download Windows 8 setup files using Upgrade assistant, its downloaded from a server which is not in your local country and this Windows 8 setup comes with United Kingdomset as the default country. When you upgrade your existing Windows OS to Windows 8, the setup automatically adopts the existing country and language settings but if you perform a fresh installation of Windows 8, it automatically sets United Kingdom as default country and English (United Kingdom) as default system language. That's the main reason behind this problem.

The solution is very simple. You just need to change the country and system language in Windows 8 to your own country and language and it'll solve your problem.

So if you are facing this annoying problem, check out following simple steps to fix it:

1. Press WIN+R keys to launch RUN dialog box, then type intl.cpl and press Enter. It'll openRegional Settings. Alternatively you can also open it from Control Panel.

2. Now go to "Administrative" tab and click on "Change system locale" button.

3. Now select the correct language and country from the drop-down box. If you are living in India, select "English (India)" option.

Apply the changes and Windows will require a reboot.

4. After reboot, you'll get a new language changing icon near the clock in Taskbar. Click on the icon and select the new language from the given list:

That's it. It'll fix the problem and you'll be able to type @ and other symbols without any problem.

5. Now you'll need to set the newly added language as default system language. To do this, click on "Language preferences" option present in the above mentioned list. It'll open Language window. You can also open it from Control Panel.

6. You'll see that the new language is shown below the previous language. Click on the new language which is English (India) in our example, and then click on "Move up" button.

7. It'll make the new language as default system language. Now you can remove the previous language by clicking on it and then clicking on "Remove" button.

That's it. The above mentioned steps will fix the problem and you'll get Windows 8 in your own locale.

Check out following video showing the complete method live in action: