Why is Cortana not available for me on Windows 10?

Hi,

Update (8/5/15) - A fix was released as part of KB3081424, Cumulative Update for Windows 10: August 5, 2015, for a problem Cortana was experiencing when installing language packs.  Please make sure you've installed the latest Windows Updates before trying these steps. 

Cortana is currently only supported if your system is in one of the 7 configurations shown in the table below. 

(Update: 11/12/15 – After you have installed the Windows 10 November update, Cortana will also be supported in Canada, India, Australia, and Japan.  The table below has been updated to show the 11 configurations that are now supported.)

Update: 1/25/17 – After you have installed the Anniversary Update, Cortana will also be supported in these locales:  Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Mexico), and French (Canada).  The table below has been updated.

Please make sure your Country or Region, Language, and Speech Language settings are all aligned with one of Cortana’s supported locale configurations.　 If these OS settings are not aligned, Cortana will not be available. For example, Cortana will not be available if your country is set to United States, but the Windows display language is set to English (United Kingdom).

To confirm the settings are set correctly:    

1.  Open Settings. Select Time& language, and then Region & Language.

2.  Check the Language (set as default) setting for your Windows display language.  If your desired language is not available, add your desired language:  

Click Add Language.

Select your desired language from the list.

Select the desired locale, which is the language/country combination.

Click on the newly selected locale and select Options.

Under Download language pack, click Download.

Under Speech, click Download.

After the downloads are complete (this could take several minutes), return to the Time & Language settings.

Click on your new language and select Set as Default.

NOTE:  IF you changed languages, you must sign out of your account and back in for the new setting to take effect.

3. Check the Country or region setting.  Make sure the country selected corresponds with the Windows display language set in the Language setting. 

4. Return to Settings and Time& language, and then select Speech.  Check the Speech language setting, and make sure it’s aligned with the previous settings.

Ok, finally got Cortana to work in UK mode..

I had to set all regional settings to US (Language \ keyboard\ locale \ speech), then I signed in to my Microsoft account.

(This took me through changing my original password to a new PIN feature) Logged off, then logged in, and Cortana was enabled, but obviously in US mode.

Then I changed everything back to UK settings. I forgot to change the speech setting back to UK, so then I received the msg "Cortana is disabled by company policy". After checking and finally changing the speech to UK, I got Cortana working fine......

It seems setting Cortana up first in US mode then changing it back to UK mode (assuming you have downloaded the UK language packs first) gets it working. Well it did for me.

Hope this helps !