Enabling Malayalam support on Windows XP

Introduction Wouldn't you love to type out documents in your mother tongue? To send personalized mails to family, with that slight touch of sentimental attachment? Well this tutorial is all about how you can enable Indic Malayalam support in your system running Windows XP, which will then allow you to type out documents, fill reports and more, in Malayalam.

Enabling Malayalam Before enabling, install WinXP Service Pack 2. To enable your machine to accept and display Indic language characters: On your Windows Desktop, click on the Start button and go to the Control Panel. On the Control Panel, click on the Regional and Language Options icon. You will get the screen as below. On the Regional and Language Options dialog, go to the center tab, Languages, and select the check box for Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai). You may need the Windows installation CD to complete this operation. The screen will be as shown below.

Installation Of IME(Input Method Editor Insert IME CD in the CD drive else download IME the same from the BhashaIndia website. You will get the file as below. Click on the "Malayalam Setup" executable file. You will get the screen as below. Click "Next". You will get the screen as below. Click "Finish".

To Add Language and Keyboard Layout Go to Start>Control Panel, click on "Regional and Language Options. You will get the screen as below. Click on the "Languages" tab. You will get the screen as below. Click "Details" tab. You will get the screen as below. Click on "Add" button. You will get the screen as below. Click dropdown box[v] of "Input Language" and select "Malayalam" as shown below. Click the dropdown[v] of "Keyboard layout/IME" and select "Malayalam Indic IME1[v 5.0]" as shown below. Then you will get the screen as below. Click "OK". You will get the screen as below. Click "Apply" and then click "OK". Go ahead, do your typing in Malayalam now!