diff --git a/lib/chroot-buildpackages.sh b/lib/chroot-buildpackages.sh
index 7ff3ba4ad0..ca1896104e 100644
--- a/lib/chroot-buildpackages.sh
+++ b/lib/chroot-buildpackages.sh
@@ -82,9 +82,10 @@ create_chroot()
 	APT::Install-Recommends "0";
 	APT::Install-Suggests "0";
 	EOF
+
 	[[ -f "${target_dir}"/etc/locale.gen ]] && \
-	sed -i "s/^# en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/" "${target_dir}"/etc/locale.gen
-	chroot "${target_dir}" /bin/bash -c "locale-gen; update-locale LANG=en_US:en LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8"
+		sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' "${target_dir}"/etc/locale.gen
+	chroot "${target_dir}" /bin/bash -c "locale-gen; update-locale --reset LANG=en_US.UTF-8"
 
 	printf '#!/bin/sh\nexit 101' > "${target_dir}"/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
 	chmod 755 "${target_dir}"/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
diff --git a/lib/debootstrap.sh b/lib/debootstrap.sh
index cdb43ff98c..4f92765ee3 100644
--- a/lib/debootstrap.sh
+++ b/lib/debootstrap.sh
@@ -251,14 +251,14 @@ create_rootfs_cache()
 		chmod 755 $SDCARD/sbin/start-stop-daemon
 
 		# stage: configure language and locales
-		display_alert "Configuring locales" "$DEST_LANG" "info"
-
-		[[ -f $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen ]] && sed -i "s/^# $DEST_LANG/$DEST_LANG/" $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
-		eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen C.UTF-8"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
-		eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen en_US.UTF-8"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
-		eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen $DEST_LANG"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
-		eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "update-locale LANG=$DEST_LANG LANGUAGE=$DEST_LANG LC_MESSAGES=$DEST_LANG"' \
-			${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
+		display_alert "Generatining default locale" "info"
+		if [[ -f $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen ]]; then
+			sed -i '/ C.UTF-8/s/^# //g' $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+			sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+		fi
+		eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>&1'}
+		eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "update-locale --reset LANG=en_US.UTF-8"' \
+			${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>&1'}
 
 		if [[ -f $SDCARD/etc/default/console-setup ]]; then
 			sed -e 's/CHARMAP=.*/CHARMAP="UTF-8"/' -e 's/FONTSIZE=.*/FONTSIZE="8x16"/' \
diff --git a/lib/distributions.sh b/lib/distributions.sh
index 49e00a8273..ee0180fede 100644
--- a/lib/distributions.sh
+++ b/lib/distributions.sh
@@ -633,6 +633,17 @@ install_distribution_specific()
 			# rc.local is not existing but one might need it
 			install_rclocal
 
+			# configure language and locales
+			display_alert "Configuring locales" "$DEST_LANG" "info"
+			if [[ -f $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen ]]; then
+				[ -n "$DEST_LANG" ] && sed -i "s/^# $DEST_LANG/$DEST_LANG/" $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+				sed -i '/ C.UTF-8/s/^# //g' $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+				sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+			fi
+			eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
+			[ -n "$DEST_LANG" ] && eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "update-locale --reset LANG=$DEST_LANG"' \
+				${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
+
 		;;
 
 	bullseye)
@@ -645,7 +656,16 @@ install_distribution_specific()
 			[[ $(grep -L "VERSION_ID=" "${SDCARD}"/etc/os-release) ]] && echo 'VERSION_ID="11"' >> "${SDCARD}"/etc/os-release
 			[[ $(grep -L "VERSION=" "${SDCARD}"/etc/os-release) ]] && echo 'VERSION="11 (bullseye)"' >> "${SDCARD}"/etc/os-release
 
-
+			# configure language and locales
+			display_alert "Configuring locales" "$DEST_LANG" "info"
+			if [[ -f $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen ]]; then
+				[ -n "$DEST_LANG" ] && sed -i "s/^# $DEST_LANG/$DEST_LANG/" $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+				sed -i '/ C.UTF-8/s/^# //g' $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+				sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' $SDCARD/etc/locale.gen
+			fi
+			eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
+			[ -n "$DEST_LANG" ] && eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "update-locale --reset LANG=$DEST_LANG"' \
+				${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null'}
 		;;
 
 	focal|jammy)
@@ -695,6 +715,12 @@ install_distribution_specific()
 			# disable conflicting services
 			chroot "${SDCARD}" /bin/bash -c "systemctl --no-reload mask ondemand.service >/dev/null 2>&1"
 
+			# configure language and locales
+			display_alert "Configuring locales" "$DEST_LANG" "info"
+			eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "locale-gen en_US.UTF-8 $DEST_LANG"' ${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>&1'}
+			[ -n "$DEST_LANG" ] && eval 'LC_ALL=C LANG=C chroot $SDCARD /bin/bash -c "update-locale --reset LANG=$DEST_LANG"' \
+				${OUTPUT_VERYSILENT:+' >/dev/null 2>&1'}
+
 		;;
 
 	esac