What is Uniscribe?
      Uniscribe is a Microsoft windows component that is responsible for rendering Unicode text. Different Windows platforms such as Windows 98, NT4, ME, 2000, XP have different versions of this component (usp10.dll) based on several factors including what platform you are running and what products and service packs have been installed on them. Aksharamala is dependent on this key component for proper rendering of Unicode text it generates. Windows XP readily comes with the new version of this component supporting Devanagari (Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit), Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. With Aksharamala 2004 Pro setup program we ship Internet Explorer 6.0 setup to safely upgrade the Uniscribe component on Windows 98, NT4 and ME.

Click here to install Internet Explorer 6.0


     So, what is left? Windows 2000 - Due to a change in design on how DLLs are replaced on Windows 2000 and later Internet Explorer 6.0 setup does not update this usp10.dll on Windows 2000. This issue affects the users of Indian languages other than Hindi and Tamil (namely Gujarati, Kannada and Telugu). So, if you are on Windows 2000 and would like to update your usp10.dll please read this page to find out whether or not and how you can update usp10.dll on your system.


    In summary, Windows XP systems have this component up to date to support the language components. For Windows 98/NT4/ME installing our customized Internet Explorer setup will take care of the issue. Windows 2000 requires manual installation of USP10.dll.


    Upgrading Uniscribe (USP10.DLL) on Windows 2000 System Although a newer USP10.DLL is necessary for the support of Telugu and other Indic languages the following process is neither recommended nor supported by Microsoft. At the time of Windows 2000's release Microsoft has officially supported only Devanagari (Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit) and Tamil from the Indian languages. If you are a user of one of these languages you need not follow this procedure and Aksharamala is expected to work correctly for Hindi and Tamil.

Why is this update required?
    A default version of this file is loaded into your \winnt\system32 directory. But this default version cannot handle Telugu processing. So, you have to get a more recent (advanced) version of USP10.dll from Microsoft. Unfortunately, Microsoft does not make it available on their download site. One way to get it at present is to join Microsoft VOLT User Community, and by doing so you can download a recent version of this DLL freely from the community's site. After downloading, you can use one of the following ways to install it in your \winnt\system32 directory:

• You can use Recovery Console to replace usp10.dll. If you have no recovery console installed on your computer, follow instructions in Windows 2000 help to do it, then restart computer in recovery mode and copy usp10.dll into windows system directory (\winnt\system32). Under recovery console you see very restricted set of directories, so be sure to copy new version into the same directory (under different name) before restart. Also make a backup copy of old version.

• If you don't want to replace your original USP10.dll, you can copy the new DLL directly to the directory where the application’s (such as Notepad, WordPad, IE5.5) executable resides. Most applications will pick it up from there instead of the Windows system directory. This way you enable the new Uniscribe only for selected applications and leave your system intact, and it's easier to do.