System Default Font

I changed my Windows 10 system default font (Segoe UI) to Arial, by pasting the following into notepad and saving as .reg . Is there a way to change the system font back to Segoe UI?

This is what I pasted into notepad;

(Where there is «ENTER NEW FONT NAME» I typed down Arial.)

Hi Luke this is what you need to put into another reg file to undo that:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
«Segoe UI (TrueType)»=»segoeui.ttf»
«Segoe UI Black (TrueType)»=»seguibl.ttf»
«Segoe UI Black Italic (TrueType)»=»seguibli.ttf»
«Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)»=»segoeuib.ttf»
«Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)»=»segoeuiz.ttf»
«Segoe UI Emoji (TrueType)»=»seguiemj.ttf»
«Segoe UI Historic (TrueType)»=»seguihis.ttf»
«Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)»=»segoeuii.ttf»
«Segoe UI Light (TrueType)»=»segoeuil.ttf»
«Segoe UI Light Italic (TrueType)»=»seguili.ttf»
«Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)»=»seguisb.ttf»
«Segoe UI Semibold Italic (TrueType)»=»seguisbi.ttf»
«Segoe UI Semilight (TrueType)»=»segoeuisl.ttf»
«Segoe UI Semilight Italic (TrueType)»=»seguisli.ttf»
«Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)»=»seguisym.ttf»

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

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How to change default System Font in Windows 10

If you’re tired of using the default system font on Windows 10, you can change it to your desired font with a simple registry tinkering. This will change the default system fonts of the desktop icons like Recycle bin, including title bar, message box, and others.

In the older version (Windows 7 or lower version) changing the default system font was not a big deal. It was quite easy and straightforward through personalization settings in the Control Panel. But for some reason, these settings were removed and users remained stuck with the default system font. You had to do just this:

• Right-click the mouse on a blank area of the screen and choose the Customize.
• Click Color and appearance of windows.
• Then, click Open classic appearance properties for additional color options.
• Next click the Advanced button.
• Pull down the list item and choose the element you want to change the font, icon, for example.
• Then pull down the Font list and choose the font to use. Then define its size and horns (bold or italic).
• Then repeat the operation for the other elements to customize. Finally, click on the OK button and then click Apply. The change is immediate and you don’t have to restart your computer.

In this article, we will show how to change the default system font on Windows 10, including the way to restore the default system font using the Registry Editor. Before you proceed, one thing you must know that without having a proper skill, editing a registry is dangerous. It can damage your system permanently which might be irreversible. So, if you have a little knowledge of what you’re doing then you can skip it and ask a skilled person to complete the adjustment.

Change default System Font in Windows 10

Before you go ahead and use the steps, do remember to create a system restore point first.

To get started, open Notepad first. You can open it using the Run command. Simply press Windows+R keys to launch the Run dialog box, type Notepad in the text field, then hit Enter to open the Notepad app.

In the Notepad app, copy and paste the following text code:

Now, open the Settings app and click on the Personalization category.

In the left pane, select the Fonts tab. You will see a large collection of the font family on the right.

Select the font you want to use from the list and also note its Official name. For example – Book Antiqua.

Now replace “NEW_FONT” with the font name you have selected from the Settings page. Because I prefer the font name “Book Antiqua” to be used in the entire system so, you can see the above image, I have replaced the “NEW_FONT” with the Book Antiqua in the registry code.

After replacing the font name in the Notepad, click on the File menu and then select the “Save as” option. On the Save as page, switch “Save as type” to All Files.

Name the file, choose the preferred location of your file, and then click the Save button. The file name must have the .reg extension. For instance – I have named my file my_font. So, the name of my file with the .reg extension should be “my_font.reg”.

Now go to the location where the .reg file has been saved. Then right-click on it and select the Merge option from the context menu.

Click Yes and then hit the OK button to save the changes.

After performing the above steps, restart your computer and the new font will substitute in the entire system.

Restore default system font on Windows 10

If you want the previous configuration on your Windows device, you can revert the changes using the following instructions:

Open the Start menu, type Notepad, then select the top of the result to open the Notepad text editor.

In the Notepad app area, copy and paste the following text code:

Now click on the File menu and then select the “Save as” option. On the Save as page, use the drop-down menu to switch “Save as type” to All Files.

Thereafter you have to name the file, choose the preferred location to save the file, and then click the Save button. Save the file with the .reg extension. For example – I have named my file restore_my_font. So, the name of my file with the .reg extension should be “restore_my_font.reg”.

Now go to the location where you have saved the restore_my_font.reg file. Then do a right-click on it and select the Merge option from the context menu.

Click Yes then hit the OK button to save the changes.

Once you have done, restart your computer and it will revert your system configuration to the default font.

TIP: Advanced System Font Changer lets you change System Font in Windows 10.

How to change the default font in Windows 10

Are you looking to change the default font in your Windows 10 but seem to be stuck at how you can actually do it? That’s okay. We know how that feels. But we’ve also got a way out for you! Windows 10 has definitely made life easier by enhancing user experience but while doing this it has also limited the customizability of the OS. Where in earlier versions of Windows 10, you could change the default font using the Control Panel or Personalization settings, now you have to do it manually through the Windows registry. You can indeed use your favorite font in OS features like message boxes icons, title bars, etc. instead of using the default font Segoe UI, with a simple trick! Follow the guide to modify the registry to change the system font and spice up your dull and average-looking interface.

Steps to change the default font in Windows 10

So before you jump in and learn the art of spicing things up for your PC, just be cautious about messing things up when you’re modifying the registry. We suggest you create a system restore point that you can revert back to in case something goes wrong. Once you’ve done that, get started by following the steps below:

Step 1: Launch the Control Panel from the Start Menu.

Step 2: Click on the “Appearance and Personalization” option from the side menu.

Step 3: Click on “Fonts” to open fonts and select the name of the one you want to use as default.

Step 4: Now open the Notepad application and paste the following code into the empty text file:

Step 5: Be sure to replace the font name you want to change Segoe UI within the last line of the registry code

Step 6: Click on File on the top menu options and then save your file as a .reg file by using the extension option “All files”

Step 7: From wherever your file is saved, double-click on it to merge it with the registry by clicking Yes and OK

Step 8: Simply restart your computer to let the changes take effect

Wrapping it up

That was pretty simple, wasn’t it? Even though the chances were slim, if you faced any issues while making changes in the font registry in Windows 10, you can revert back to the system restore point you created in the start. But if you were able to successfully change the default font you’ll now be loving the new look your system just got. We really hope you were able to make the most out of this article. Let us know how it went for you in the comment box.

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 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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