Should You Use a Third-party Repackaged Clash for Windows Build?

Short answer: no. The official Clash for Windows installer already includes a language switcher, and every repackaged build trades verifiability for a convenience you do not need.

The official build already switches language

Open Clash for Windows and go to the General tab. Set Language to the interface language you want. The change takes effect immediately, no restart required.

If your General tab has no Language field, the installer you are running is not the stock 0.20.39 build — it has almost certainly been repackaged.

What repackaged builds actually change

The widely circulated Clash.for.Windows.Setup.0.20.39-Chinese.exe (and its variants) work by editing app.asar inside the application bundle to swap in translated strings, and by rewriting the update endpoint. The consequences:

• You cannot verify it. There is no practical way to see which files were modified or whether anything else was bundled in.
• Updates are hijacked. The repackager decides where your client fetches updates from and which version it receives — and you have lost the official signature check in the process.
• The version is frozen. You stay on the moment of repackaging forever; legitimate fixes released before the project died can never reach you.
• Rollback is messy. Leftover modifications may need manual cleanup before a stock installer behaves normally again.

This site does not link to such builds and does not recommend them.

If you already installed one

1. Check the version. The General tab or the about panel should report 0.20.39. Anything else means the binary was modified.
2. Back up your configuration. Copy the profiles directory under %USERPROFILE%\.config\clash\ somewhere safe.
3. Quit from the tray. Right-click the tray icon and exit, then confirm the process is gone — otherwise ports such as 7890 stay occupied.
4. Uninstall and reinstall. Remove the current build and obtain a stock installer through the channel described on the download page.
5. Restore. Switch the language as described above, then drag your backed-up config file back into the Configs tab.

Quick verification checklist

• The version in the filename should match the version the app reports (0.20.39). If it does not, stop.
• Compare against a published SHA256 hash when one exists. Otherwise, at minimum confirm the source matches what the download page describes.
• Treat labels like "portable", "enhanced" or "optimized" as a signal that the application bundle was modified.

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For other issues with CFW, see the FAQ and whether to keep using it.