Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows 8

In Microsoft Windows 8, the unit of measurement used is determined by settings in place within the Regional Settings applet within the Control Panel. You can choose from between U.S. and Metric. In this tutorial, we'll show you how you can change the units from U.S. to Metric, or vice versa.

Follow these steps to change the unit of measurement in Windows 8:

1. When you start Microsoft Windows 8 you'll see the Metro interface, as shown in Figure 1.
2. 
   Figure 1: Windows 8 metro interface
2. Now, press the Windows + X shortcut key to bring up the Windows Tools Menu at the bottom left corner of the Metro interface, as shown in Figure 2. From this menu choose the Control Panel option (highlighted in red within Figure 2).
3. 
   Figure 2: Control Panel option to be selected
3. This opens the Control Panel window, as shown in Figure 3. In this window, select the Clock, Language, and Region option (highlighted in red within Figure 3).
4. 
   Figure 3: Clock, Language, and Region options selected within Control Panel
4. This brings up the Clock, Language, and Region window. Within this window, click on Region option as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4.
5. 
   Figure 4: Clock, Language, and Region window
5. This opens the multi-tabed Region dialog box that you can see in Figure 5. Within this dialog box, make sure that the Formats tab is selected, and click the Additional settings... button (highlighted in red within Figure 5).
6. 
   Figure 5: Additional settings button within Region dialog box
6. This brings up another multi-tabbed Customize Format dialog box (see Figure 6). Make sure that you are on the Numbers tab. Locate the Measurement system option, click it, and choose Metric (or U.S.) from the resultant drop-down list, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 6.
7. 
   Figure 6: Metric measurement system selected within Customize Format dialog box
7. Click the OK button to apply changes.