I'm a Dutch developer living in Spain. I recently composed a new computer from new parts and I installed Windows 7 Professional 64 bit (OEM) on it. On the web site of the on-line shop there was a note saying "language: Spanish". Because my English is quite a bit better than my Spanish, but mainly because it is much easier to find information on the web in English, I want my OS to be in English. I asked the on-line shop if they also sold the UK version of Windows 7 but they assured me that "all Windows 7 versions are multi-language". With the installation of XP a few years ago, I remember that I was offered the option English or Spanish while the installation process was still in the DOS-like (non-graphical) screen. While installing Windows 7, I did not see any non-graphical screen and the first time I was asked about the language, was in a drop-down list that contained only Spanish.

I know about the language pack possibility of Windows 7, but this is not available on Professional. Even if I had Ultimate, I don't know if it would be possible to install Windows in Spanish, and then add English as a second language from a language pack. I get the impression that English has to be the base-language. Furthermore, I am a bit sceptical until I'd see it in action. What happens with shortcuts (i.e. Select All: ctrl-a in English / ctrl-e in Spanish, and what about logging messages in Event Viewer, etc)

So can anybody tell me how it works with languages in Windows 7? Have I been misinformed by the computer shop? Could it be that OEM versions of Windows are single language an a full installation is not?