AS SSD Benchmark in German? Switch the Interface to English

You extract AS SSD Benchmark, double-click it, and the whole interface opens in German. The tool is not broken, you did not download the wrong file, and there is no separate English edition to hunt for. The program ships with German as its built-in default and English in a separate language folder, and when that folder is missing or separated from the executable, German is what you get. This guide explains why it happens, how to switch to English from the Language menu in seconds, and how to fix the folder layout so it never happens again.

The package you want is version 2.0.7316.34247 from the download page. The interface is only ever available in German and English; there are no other official language packs. If a site offers this tool in many languages as separate downloads, treat that claim with suspicion and prefer the standard package described here.

Why the interface defaults to German

AS SSD Benchmark was written by Alexej Schepeljanski, a German developer, and German is the language built into the executable itself. English is provided as external language files stored in a folder named en-US that sits next to the executable in the extracted ZIP. At startup the program looks for those language files beside itself. If it finds them, it can display English. If it cannot, because the folder is missing, renamed, left behind in the ZIP, or separated during a careless copy, it simply falls back to the built-in German. Nothing is damaged; the English files are just not where the program is looking.

That single mechanism explains every version of this complaint. Running the executable from inside the ZIP preview causes it, because the folder structure is not extracted to a real directory. Copying only the executable to a USB stick causes it. Extracting with a tool that flattens folders can cause it. In each case the cure is the same: restore the correct layout, then choose English.

The quick fix: switch from the Language menu

If the en-US folder is present next to the executable, you may not need to move any files at all. Open the program and look at the menu bar. One of the menus controls language, labelled with the language concept in German; open it and choose English. The menu only offers English and German, reflecting the two languages the tool actually ships with. The interface switches to English, and you can proceed to run your test normally.

German menu words are less frightening than they look in this small program. File operations, the Tools menu containing the Copy-Benchmark and Compression-Benchmark, and the View menu for switching between MB/s and IOPS are all in familiar positions. Even before switching, the result table itself, Seq, 4K, 4K-64Thrd, and Acc.time, is readable in either language, because those labels and the numbers do not change. Still, switch to English for settings and messages; guessing at dialogue boxes is no way to run a benchmark.

The permanent fix: restore the en-US folder

If the Language menu has no working English option, or the program returns to German every time, fix the layout. Close the program. Return to the original ZIP and extract it again, completely, into a fresh folder, choosing Extract All rather than dragging out the executable alone. Open the new folder and confirm with your own eyes that two things sit side by side inside it: the AS SSD Benchmark executable and the en-US folder.

• Executable and en-US folder in the same folder: correct. Run from here.
• Executable alone on the Desktop, USB stick, or Downloads: incorrect. Move the whole extracted folder instead.
• Executable still inside a ZIP preview window: incorrect. Extract first, then run.
• en-US folder nested inside another extra folder level: move the extracted contents so the language folder is directly beside the executable.

Now start the program from the corrected folder, open the Language menu, and select English. From then on, keep the folder together as one unit whenever you copy, back up, or carry the tool. This is the central rule of its portable design, covered fully in using AS SSD Benchmark portably. Deleting the en-US folder to tidy up or save a trivial amount of space is the one housekeeping step to never take.

What if English still does not appear?

Work through the boring causes in order, because one of them is almost always responsible. Confirm you extracted the ZIP fully and are not running from inside it. Confirm the folder is literally named en-US and sits directly beside the executable, not inside a subfolder. Confirm you are running the executable from that folder and not an older copy elsewhere via a shortcut or a pinned taskbar icon. Finally, download the ZIP again from the download page and extract a pristine copy, then compare its layout with yours; the download page lists the file size and hash so you can verify the package itself is intact.

Do not download random language packs from unrelated sites to fix this. The English files are already part of the standard package. A missing-language problem is a layout problem, never a reason to add files from strangers to a system tool you run against your drives.

Once English is working

With the interface in English, continue with a normal first run: select the correct drive at the top, leave the test size at 1 GB, press Start, and save your result. Running your first benchmark walks through that process step by step, and the main how-to-use tutorial explains every row of the result. The German-interface detour will have cost you two minutes and taught you the portable folder rule, which also protects you on every future computer and USB stick.

In short: German appears because English lives in the en-US folder and the program could not find it beside the executable. Switch via the Language menu when the folder is present, and restore the side-by-side layout when it is not. There is no English edition to download and no setting deep in Windows to change; the fix is the folder, every time.