Fix the “Invalid XSL format (or) file name” Error

I was helping someone out the other day getting a list of the services running on the PC, and the files associated with the services.

The command I used on Windows 7 was 

wmic /output:c:\services_path.html service get pathname /format:hform

This then failed and displayed the error shown in the title.   If you use the /format switch you might encounter this error. This happens if your system’s locale setting differs from the language the operating system was originally installed in. Unfortunately the /locale switch does not seem to work so you have to manually fix the problem, luckily its a simple fix.

In Windows Explorer, Navigate to

%WINDIR%\System32\wbem\en-US (or your corresponding locale folder)
Search for: *.xsl
You should find 5 files; select and copy these
Go to: %WINDIR%\System32\wbem\
Create a new folder for your locale (i.e. en-GB)
Go into the new folder and paste the files

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Get the services on your PC and the pathnames to the files

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