In Aris’s case, his display language was English, but his active typing language was German. When he switched to a PowerShell terminal launched as admin, Windows said: “Ah, a secure, legacy-aware window. I will ignore the user’s current German keyboard and use the display language’s default: English.”
But here was the devil’s bargain: Some applications, especially older ones, or those launched via scripts, remote desktop sessions, or administrator privileges, would ignore your active keyboard layout. They’d revert to the system’s legacy default —often the input method associated with the Windows display language. In Aris’s case, his display language was English,
Then, below that, he checked the box:
Except—and here was the ghost—his system had a hidden third language: Russian, installed for a translation project months ago. Due to a bug in language list ordering, the legacy default had quietly become Russian. Hence, the phantom Cyrillic. The Override for default input method was the exorcist’s spell. It forced every application—new, old, admin, or sandboxed—to start with a single, unyielding keyboard layout, regardless of the display language or the language list order. They’d revert to the system’s legacy default —often