diff --git a/changes/bug22520 b/changes/bug22520
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc14f7214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/bug22520
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (error reporting, windows):
+    - When formatting Windows error messages, use the English format
+      to avoid codepage issues. Fixes bug 22520; bugfix on
+      0.1.2.8-alpha. Patch from "Vort".
+
diff --git a/src/common/compat.c b/src/common/compat.c
index 3bea62690..4d110aba3 100644
--- a/src/common/compat.c
+++ b/src/common/compat.c
@@ -3261,7 +3261,7 @@ format_win32_error(DWORD err)
                  FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM |
                  FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
                  NULL, err,
-                 MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
+                 MAKELANGID(LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
                  (LPVOID)&str,
                  0, NULL);