How to change default system font on Windows 10

Source: Windows Central

On Windows 10, you can change the default system font, but you now have to make changes to the Registry to complete this task.

In older versions like Windows 7, the Control Panel included personalization settings to change the system font for many visual elements on the desktop, such as File Explorer, icons, title bars, menus, message boxes, and more. However, for some reason, Windows 10 removed these settings, and you are now stuck with the default system font.

However, it is possible to change the «Segoe UI» default font on Windows 10, if that is something you want to do. Now, it just takes a few more steps using the Registry.

In this Windows 10 guide, we will walk you through the steps to change the default system font for most desktop elements.

How to change default font on Windows 10

To change the system font on Windows 10, use these steps:

Warning: This is a friendly reminder that editing the Registry is risky and can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don’t do it correctly. It’s recommended to make a full backup of your PC before proceeding. Alternatively, you can create a system restore point, which will also help you revert the changes.

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Notepad and click the top result to open the text editor.

Copy and paste the following Registry code onto the file:

Select the font family you want to use.

Source: Windows Central

Note the official name of the font family – for example, Courier New.

Source: Windows Central

In the Notepad text with the Registry code, replace «NEW-FONT-NAME» with the name of the font you want to use in the entire system – for example, Courier New.

Source: Windows Central

Use the «Save as type» drop-down menu and select the All Files option.

Source: Windows Central

Right-click the newly created «.reg» file and select the Merge option.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Yes button.

Click the OK button.

Restart the computer.

Once you complete the steps, the new font should be available throughout the desktop visual elements, including File Explorer, message box, taskbar, and apps that use the system default font settings.

Although you can select from a lot of different fonts, it is recommended to choose a style that is easy to understand since fonts like Webdings or Wingdings use symbols, and they can cause issues to the installation.

How to restore default system font on Windows 10

If you change your mind, you can always restore the previous settings using the Registry or using a restore point.

Undo settings with Registry

To restore the default font settings on Windows 10, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Notepad and click the top result to open the text editor.

Copy and paste the following Registry code onto the file:

Use the «Save as type» drop-down menu and select the All Files option.

Source: Windows Central

Right-click the newly created «.reg» file and select the Merge option.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Yes button.

Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, the Windows 10 default font should rollback to the previous configuration.

Undo settings with Restore point

Alternatively, you could also use a previous restore point created before modifying the font settings to undo the changes. However, use this option as a last resort, since depending on when you are restoring the system, the feature may also undo other system changes you may have configured after the restore point was created.

To undo system changes, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Create a restore point and select the top result to open the app.
3. Click the System Protection tab.

Click the System Restore button.

Source: Windows Central

Select the restore point you created before applying the settings.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Next button.

Click the Finish button.

Once you complete the steps, the system will need to be restarted to finish the process.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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How to change system default font in all parts completely

I don’t like cleartype font because it hurts my eyesight. So I tried to change the default font in Windows Vista and 7 as follows. First, I turned off cleartype and changed Segoe UI to Tahoma in ‘Personalize’ menu. Second, I modified Segoe UI to Tahoma in the registry ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Font’.

To change default font in not almost but all parts, you must modify registry. But registry modification makes a problem that for example when I click ‘Control Panel>Date and Time’ the window looks ugly because the font size is too large and so some letters are cut outside the window.

Anyone who challenged to change system font and size?
I really wanna Microsoft to give users the option to change system default font and size in all parts completely.

Thank you, Grzegorz Krzymiński. But the method makes default scale larger and cannot reduce font scale in Windows 7.
And the method, which I already know, does not solve my question.

I have searched this site and found a very useful tip except one problem which is mentioned at the end. This problem is what I also wanna solve.
How can I change system default font size to 8, 9 or other? If I discover the solution I can remove font smoothing in all window parts and get appropriate font size.

Below is the summary of how to completely disable ClearType and font smoothing in Windows 7.

1. Disable ClearType by opening “Control Panel->Fonts->Adjust ClearType text” and unchecking “Turn on ClearType”.

Alternatively you can change the value of the following registry key from 2 to 1:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
«FontSmoothingType»=dword:00000001

2. Disable font smoothing by unchecking «Smooth edges of screen fonts» in “Control Panel->System->Advanced system settings -> Performance Settings->Visual Effects.

Alternatively you can change the value of the following registry key from 2 to 1:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
«FontSmoothing»=»1»

3. Change window elements fonts. To do this, open “Control Panel->Personalize->Window Color->Advanced appearance settings” and change all fonts from Segoe UI 9 to any other font (Windows XP uses Tahoma 8 for all elements by default).

These settings are stored in the following registry path:

4. Now you need to make the system believe that it has no Segoe UI fonts and that it must replace it with for example Таhoma. Please note that there is no need to delete any fonts.
Run regedit.exe and make the following changes in the registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
«Segoe UI (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)»=»»

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]
«Segoe UI»=»Tahoma»

If you would like to revert it back here are the defaults:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
«Segoe UI (TrueType)»=»segoeui.ttf»
«Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)»=»segoeuib.ttf»
«Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)»=»segoeuii.ttf»
«Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)»=»segoeuiz.ttf»
«Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)»=»seguisb.ttf»
«Segoe UI Light (TrueType)»=»segoeuil.ttf»
«Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)»=»seguisym.ttf»

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]
«Segoe UI»=-

5. Restart the computer.

Congrats! We are done! Now absolutely in the whole system the user defined fonts are used without any ClearType or smoothing.

In case somebody would like to disable ClearType in the whole system, but enable it in Office 2007 (Office 2007 in Windows XP uses ClearType always, regardless of system settings), then you need to complete all the above steps, except the first one.

It seems to be OK now, we disabled ClearType and font smoothing, changed system fonts, but there is one imperfection.
By default the system uses Segoe UI 9. We changed the font to Tahoma, but the system font size remained the same.

Question remains: How to change the system font size to 8?

How to Change the Default Font in Windows 10

If you’re not a fan of the default font in Windows 10, Segoe, you can change it to your preferred font with a simple registry tweak. This will change the fonts for Windows 10’s icons, menus, title bar text, File Explorer, and more.

First we’ll back up your registry settings, so you can reverse the changes in case you don’t like them later. Then we’ll simply update the registry with a .reg file.

1. Press Win+R.

2. Type in regedit and press Enter.

3. Go to File > Export… to save the registry file somewhere on your hard drive.

4. Open Notepad and copy and paste the following into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
«Segoe UI (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Black (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Black Italic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Historic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Light (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Light Italic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Semibold Italic (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Semilight (TrueType)»=»»
«Segoe UI Semilight Italic (TrueType)»=»»

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]
«Segoe UI»=»Verdana»

Replace Verdana in the last line with the name of the font you want to use as your system default. You might have to open your Fonts folder (search for «fonts» in the Windows taskbar) to get the full, correct name of the font.

5. Click File > Save.

6. Change the «Save as» type to «All Files.»

7. In the File name field, give the file a .reg extension. You can name it anything, as long as it ends in .reg.

8. Click Save.

9. Double-click the registry file you just created to run it. You’ll be prompted to allow the file to make changes to the computer and confirm you want to continue, then get confirmation the changes were successfully made.

10. Restart your computer to see the font change applied across Windows 10.

Just don’t change the default font to something like Wingdings, lest you render your system completely unreadable.