This is not the first time I have received an email with the subject line “ The language bar has disappeared Windows 7! Help! " Therefore, I will try to help not only the recipient, but also everyone who has also lost the language bar in Windows 7.
First, let's remember what a language bar is. Language bar is a special toolbar that automatically appears on the desktop when you enable text input services (input languages, keyboard layouts, handwriting recognition, etc.). The language bar allows the user to quickly switch keyboard layout or input language directly from the desktop. The user can place the language bar anywhere on the screen; they can also move it to the taskbar or simply minimize it. The typical location of the language bar in Windows 7 is the lower right corner of the screen, next to the tray.
However, sometimes it happens that the language bar disappears. Usually this can be the result of a virus, or, on the contrary, an overly “smart” system optimizer or system cleaning program (they need to be used with caution and an understanding of what is happening). You might argue, so what, because the keyboard layout can still be switched using the usual Alt+Shift or Ctrl+Shift key combination. However, in my opinion, working without visualizing the current layout is not very convenient.
Restoring the language bar in Windows 7
How can you return the language bar in win7? In general, I know several ways to restore it, each of which can help in one case or another (usually depending on the reason for the damage to your system setting). I will list the methods known to me for restoring the language bar in Windows 7 in order of increasing complexity of their implementation.
1. Restoring to standards using Windows
The language bar should now appear in the tray.
If this does not help, move on to the second method.
2. Restoring the language bar using Windows 7 Scheduler
One of the features of the language bar in Windows 7 (unlike XP) is the fact that the system scheduler is responsible for its launch. Or rather, the scheduler launches not the language bar itself, but the utility ctfmon.exe(it is she who controls the language bar in Windows 7) . Therefore, if the scheduler service is not running for some reason, then the language bar will not appear.
Let's make sure that the scheduler service is running and its startup type Auto.
3. Recovery through the Windows 7 registry
Let's move on to more complex methods of dealing with the missing language bar in Windows 7. Let's try to add a language bar management utility ctfmon.exe to startup. But first, check that this file actually exists (it should be located in the C:\Windows\System32 directory). If it is not there, copy it from your working system. Then:
That seems to be all, I hope that if your language bar has disappeared in Windows 7, this article will help you restore it. If none of the proposed methods helped you, write in the comments and we’ll try to solve the problem together.
The Windows graphical interface has various goodies that help the user receive up-to-date information without even performing any additional actions. For example, to find out the time or what day it is, you just need to lower your eyes down and look at the lower right corner of the screen. Of course, if the user moved the taskbar and notification panel, then you need to look at the place where it is located. In the same place as the date, there is a language settings panel, which sometimes disappears. In this article, we will look at how to display the language bar in Windows 7.
What is the language bar
One of the components of the toolbar that allows the user to understand what language is currently being used to enter text, what keyboard layout is enabled, etc. is called the language bar. In Windows 7 it is small and often difficult for users with poor vision to notice. For convenience, they drag it from the toolbar to working space to eventually get a separate window with more detailed inscriptions. We recommend not to do this; it is better to increase the font in the system, because... everything should be in its place.
In order not to click on the language bar every time to change the keyboard layout language, you just need to press one of the following combinations on the keyboard: Alt+Shift or Ctrl+Shift. Even if the panel has disappeared from visibility, these combinations will work; only to find out the current language, you will need to try to enter the letters in text editors or browser address bar. Let's find out why the language bar disappears in Windows.
Why does the language bar disappear in Windows?
According to even experienced users, the language bar disappears when “it wants to.” Perhaps it’s a flaw in the system developers or a bug, but it happens. At the same time, the user himself may become the culprit of this event. Let's look at this case in more detail:
- By adjusting the time or changing the sound volume, the user accidentally removes the language bar;
- By dragging the language bar (simply undocking it from the toolbar), the user either deleted it or hid it so that it is now not visible on the desktop;
- The user screwed up the Control Panel settings;
- The panel does not start because the “Task Scheduler” does not automatically launch the “ctfmon.exe” utility.
Thus, “saving a drowning person is the work of the drowning person.” You just need to read our article and learn how to enable and dock the language bar in Windows. We will consider the entire process on Windows 7, but the algorithm is suitable for both Windows 8|8.1 and Windows 10.
How to enable the language bar in Windows 7?
In some cases, you won’t be able to enable the language bar the first time; you need to try several options. For convenience, we divide this paragraph of the article into three subparagraphs with different algorithms of actions.
Enabling the language bar in Windows 7. Method No. 1
First, let's deal with the “Scheduler”, which may be spoiling the “raspberry” for us. The algorithm for enabling the language bar utility looks like this:
After restarting the computer, the language bar utility should start, and it, in turn, will appear on the toolbar. If this does not happen, move on to method No. 2.
Enabling the language bar in Windows 7. Method number 2
Now we will consider the situation from the point of view of a settings failure in the “Control Panel”. To enter it, we repeat step No. 1 of the previous method, only instead of “Computer” we go to the “Control Panel” using the left mouse button. Next, the algorithm is as follows:
If it still doesn’t appear there, then the problem is deeper – in the system registry. To finally resolve the issue in our favor, we move on to the third and final method of solving the problem of the missing language bar.
Enabling the language bar in Windows 7. Method No. 3
The essence of this algorithm is that it is necessary to create a file that will make changes to the registry, in this case, regarding the language bar. The text looks like this:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
"ctfmon.exe"="C:\\Windows\\System32\\ctfmon.exe"
We copy it in the same form and paste it into Notepad. 
You need to save with the extension not txt, but reg. Any name. Then, when you save it, run it, confirm the entry into the registry and restart your computer. After a reboot, everything will work 99.9% of the time.
The language bar may disappear from the screen completely unexpectedly: the reason is usually the launch or removal of programs, changes in startup settings, offline OS processes, the action of a virus, etc. Most often, the disappearance of the language bar is caused by user actions - changing the layout language by clicking on the panel with the mouse, and not using preset keyboard shortcuts, it is quite easy to press the wrong button a couple of times (the user often does not notice these actions) and the panel disappears.
The usual way
To restore the language bar (no matter what version of Windows - xp, 7 or 8) you can use several methods. The last one below always helps, except if the computer is infected with a virus, but requires an OS restart, so you should start with it only if you want to work with the registry yourself.
The first thing to do if the option to select an input language is not visible anywhere on the screen - regardless of the version of Windows - is to make sure that this is really the case. To do this, press the Win+D key combination and carefully look around on the desktop: the language change icon can be moved outside the taskbar and located anywhere on the screen. If there is no icon, you should right-click on the taskbar and view the functions that appear in the “toolbar” section. If there is a “language bar” among them, clicking with the left mouse button will return the language change icon to its usual place. This method of restoring the icon may work on XP or 7, but not on eight.
The taskbar is a narrow/wide (depending on personal settings) strip along one of the borders of the screen, the same one on which the missing language switching icon is usually present.
However, most often it is impossible to check the “language bar” box - this item simply does not exist. In this case, for both Windows 7 and XP, perform the following steps:
- Click the Start button (the large/most visible button on the far left or top of the taskbar);
- In the right side of the list that opens, find “Control Panel”, click;
- A list/lot of icons will open. You should select the last one in alphabetical order, “Region and Language Settings/Standards”;
- Then select “Languages”/”Languages and keyboards”;
- In Windows XP, click the “More details” button under “Text Input Services”; in 7 in the same place there will be “Change keyboard”;
- Select the “Language Bar” section: in Windows 7 - it is located in the window that opens at the top, in XP it is a button under the language selection window;
- Windows 7 – check “Pinned to taskbar”, click “Apply”, then click OK in the Language bar section and Change keyboard. You can simply close these windows.
XP – check the boxes next to “Display the language bar on the desktop” and “Additional icon on the taskbar”. Click OK, then click OK in the “Languages and text input services” section; - As a result of the above 7 actions, the language bar should become visible again.
Return via registry
If you cannot return the language bar through the control panel, you will have to learn how to restore the language bar through the registry: i.e. Check the registry and if there is no parameter in it that triggers the display of the input language, add it. This is done for both 7 and XP, as follows:
- Press the Win+R key combination or the Start button and then select “Run” on the left side of the list;
- In the window that opens, enter regedit and click OK;
- The Registry Editor will open. In it, you should sequentially click on the words HKEY LOCAL MACHINE, SOFTWARE, Microsoft, Windows, Run;
- In the Run folder that opens, check for the presence of the CTFMon entry;
- If there is such an entry, you need to right-click on it and select Edit;
- After that, check the Value with this path: C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe, if the Value is missing or clearly indicated incorrectly, replace it with the one given above, click OK. The path can also look like D:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe or the same, but through E - this depends on which drive the operating system is installed on;
- If the CTFMon entry does not exist, you must create one. To do this, right-click in the Run folder, select – create stock parameter, enter CTFMon, and then follow step No. 6, be sure to take into account the OS location drive (standard – C);
- To restart a computer. The usual choice of input language should be restored.
None of the methods help
This usually means the following: the ctfmon.exe program responsible for the keyboard layout was destroyed by a virus or deleted by the user. In this case, you should find the program file yourself and download it from the Internet. If you suspect a virus, then you should search through a search for a non-standard file location on your computer not to restore its operation, but only to delete the file - it will almost certainly be infected. The ctfmon.exe file, downloaded from the Internet and scanned by an antivirus, should be run and installed in the x:\Windows\system32\ directory, where x is the drive letter on which the OS is installed (see above). After this, perform steps 1-8 (also see above).
All entries in the registry perform in English letters, however, the layout may be confused when the Cyrillic alphabet is installed. The standard keyboard shortcut for changing layouts is Alt+Shift or Ctrl+Shift. Using them can be very inconvenient if more than two or three layouts are constantly used on the computer. In this case, you should turn on the on-screen keyboard - it will help you determine when, using keyboard shortcuts, the standard Latin alphabet is finally selected.
One of essential tools for those working with text is the language bar. How to restore it if lost? At the same time, all the necessary functions remain available, but when switching layouts, it is not visible which of them the user is working in at a particular time. You can return the panel using system tools.
The application responsible for displaying the language bar
One of the Windows OS system applications is Ctfmon.exe. This is what is responsible for the disappearance of the language bar. When this program is launched, the panel in question displays information about the language and layout used.
The application is launched using a special registry key.
The first way to restore the language bar
To do this, you need to use the control panel. Below is a step-by-step description of how to return the language bar.
In the control panel, click on the “Language” icon. Then go to “Advanced options”, check the “Use language bar” checkbox. It is also placed opposite the “Use... if available” item.
Its parameters are configured:
- select a pin in the taskbar if its presence is required permanently;
- For users working with multimedia content, space on the monitor is important, so they can make this setting hidden.
The second method is how to restore the language bar
It can be used if the method described above did not work.
If the language bar has disappeared, you need to check your startup settings. If it is not there, then you need to add it by correcting some entries in the registry. You need to run regedit through the command line or by pressing the Win+R hotkeys and entering this word in the window that appears.
Go to the HCU branch, then Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. In the right field, a context menu is called up and a string parameter is created. It is given an arbitrary name. The following value is entered so that there is no situation where the language bar is not displayed: ”ctfmon”=”CTFMON.EXE”. The quotation marks shown are entered along with the text.
After these steps, you may need to reboot the OS.
Using these two methods described, you can answer the question of how to restore the language bar in relation to the OS versions in question: Vista, 7, 8.1.
Launching the task scheduler
System failures sometimes occur in the OS in question. As a result, some system services that are responsible for certain actions may be disabled.
Below we will discuss how to return the language bar using this method:
- the context menu is called up from the “My Computer” shortcut, “Management” is selected there;
- in the sidebar of the window that appears, go to “Services and Applications”, then to “Services”;
- “Task Scheduler” is found in the list, on which you double-click;
- A window will open in which the following parameters are set: startup type - auto, state - running; then the computer restarts.
After loading the OS, the language bar should be in its original place.
Running ctfmon.exe on Windows XP
In the initial NT version of the OS in question, you can run this program in other ways. It should work so that there is no situation where the language bar is not displayed.
The context menu is called up on the taskbar, in it you click on “Task Manager”. In the window that opens, go to the menu “File” - “New task”. The name of the program is entered and the changes made are confirmed.
Windows OS is susceptible to viruses and inept user actions, as a result of which the system file of this program could disappear. In this case, insert into the drive installation disk from the OS, a command line is opened, in which the following text is entered: scf /ScanNow, after which the scanning is completed.
Using this method, you can restore all previously deleted system files, including the one that interests us. In addition, if the language bar has disappeared, you can download its file from the Internet or from another computer on which the same OS is installed.
In most cases, this is enough to return the language bar to its place.
Method with the control panel in Windows XP
Here you need to click on the “Language and region” icon. Standards". There - go to the “Languages” tab. Click on the “Details” button. On the “Options” tab, check for the presence of at least two languages. If there is only one, then you need to add at least one more by clicking on the button of the same name.
In the “Input Language” that appears, select one of them that we may need, and in the lower field select the layout corresponding to this language. In “Options” at the bottom, click on the “Language Bar” button. Here you need to check the box next to “Display the language bar on the desktop”. We confirm the changes made.
In this case, if the language bar disappeared before performing these actions, after performing them it should appear in its original place.
Method with the registry in Windows XP
This is done in the same way as described earlier. The only difference is that the value is C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe. The same value can be entered in newer versions. After this, a reboot is performed, and the language bar is in its rightful place.
Bringing back the language bar in Windows 10
First you need to try to enable the language icon on the taskbar. To do this, open the “Settings” of this OS and go there to “Personalization” - “Taskbar” - “Turn on/off system icons”, after which the “Input indicator” is in the list, which is set to the on position.
How can I get the language bar back on this OS using the Control Panel? Go to "Language" - "Advanced options" - "Switching input methods". Here you check the box next to “Use... if available”, after which you go to “Options”.
The following points are noted here:
- display text labels;
- pinned to the taskbar;
- display additional icons.
In addition, in this version of the OS, restoration of the panel in question can be carried out through the registry in a similar way to the method described above.
Finally
When answering the question of how to restore the language bar, you need to assume that it is restored using system tools, mainly using the registry editor or a simpler method using the control panel settings. You can also use the task scheduler.
The language bar is an indicator that shows whether the this moment computer keyboard language layout. Active English language is displayed as an abbreviation EN, Russian - RU. The language bar is usually located on the right side of the bottom menu on the desktop, in the so-called system tray. Very often, for various reasons, it disappears from there and computer users lose the opportunity to find out the keyboard layout before they start typing.
This, of course, is not very convenient and many begin to look for ways to restore the language bar on the desktop. The simplest and most logical way in this situation is to check whether the language bar display setting in the settings has gone wrong operating system. To do this you need to do the following: 
After completing these steps in Windows Vista, you will have a language bar in the system tray. For others Windows versions the names of windows and items may differ slightly, but general principle the settings are the same.
If the language bar appears, but after rebooting or turning off and then turning on the computer, it disappears again, then you need to check whether the autostart of the ctfmon.exe process, which is responsible for the language bar, is configured.
This can be done in the following way: 
If the ctfmon item is missing in msconfig, then for some reason the necessary registry key responsible for initializing this process has been deleted. Therefore, it is necessary to restore this record as follows:
- Click the Start button and command line enter the command regedit, which launches the registry editor.
- Find the key in the registry directory on the left side of the window
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
In the right window, right-click and select “New” - “String Parameter”. Name it CTFMON.EXE and then open it for editing. Enter the value in the field"C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe"
(must be written with quotation marks).
- If you don’t want to edit the registry manually, then download (enter the website when prompted for a password), unpack and run the file on your computer. He will make the necessary entry in the registry himself.
- Restart your computer.
Additional tip.
If you have it installed as an operating system Windows systems XP, then before performing the steps described above, you need to check the presence of the ctfmon.exe file in the c:\windows\system32\ folder, which is responsible for the operation of the language bar. This file can be deleted or renamed by a virus, or by the user himself.
If the file is not there, then make it visible, go to the folder C:\windows\system32\dllcache and copy the missing file from there.
In Windows Vista and Windows 7 security policy system files implemented better, since no one can change these files without obtaining rights to them. Therefore, there are no problems with the ctfmon.exe file itself.