How to Change Font in Windows 10

A slick new font is just a registry edit away

By
Matthew S. Smith
Matthew S. Smith - biopic
Matthew S. Smith
Writer
  • Beloit College
Matthew S. Smith has been writing about consumer tech since 2007. Formerly the Lead Editor at Digital Trends, he's also written for PC Mag, TechHive, and others.
lifewire's editorial guidelines
Updated on November 11, 2021
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Ryan Perian headshot
Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

This article will teach you how to change your font in Windows 10. The OS doesn't have a setting to change the system-wide font, but you can still change the font by editing the Windows Registry. The registry edit is quick, and you can do it with the Windows Notepad app.

Editing the Windows Registry

Here's how to change the font in Windows 10.

  1. Use Windows Search to search for and then open Font Settings. You will now see a list of the installed fonts.

    A screenshot of the Windows 10 font menu


  2. Carefully note the name of the font you want to use as default for Windows 10.

    Precision is important. The registry edit may not work if the font name isn't exactly as shown in the Font Settings menu, including spaces and capitalization.

  3. Open the Notepad app.

  4. Copy and paste the following text into Notepad. 

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
    "Segoe UI (TrueType)"=""
    "Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)"=""
    "Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)"=""
    "Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)"=""
    "Segoe UI Light (TrueType)"=""
    "Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)"=""
    "Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)"=""
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

    "Segoe UI"="Name of new font"

    Editing the Windows Registry can cause instability. It's a good idea to make sure you have a recent Windows backup available before editing the registry.

  5. Change "Name of new font" in the last line of the text pasted into Notepad to the name of the font you want to use. The quotation marks should remain. In the screenshot below, the font is changed to Californian FB.

    Notepad open with a registry edit to change the default font of Windows 10.

  6. Click File > Save as. A File Explorer window appears to let you save the file.

  7. Select the dropdown next to Save as type and change the selection from Text Documents (*.txt) to All Files.

  8. Enter a file name in the File Name field. The filename itself can be whatever you want, but it must end with a .reg extension. In the screenshot below, for example, we named the file californian-fb-font-change.reg.

    A screenshot of the Windows 10 File Explorer open with a registry file selected


  9. Click Save.

  10. Open File Explorer and navigate to the .reg file you just saved.

  11. Double-click the .reg file.

  12. A warning will appear to remind you that editing the registry may cause errors. Click Yes.

  13. A confirmation message will appear. Click Ok.

  14. Restart your computer.

The font change will take effect after you restart Windows.

Windows 10 Font Limitations

This method will change most fonts in Windows 10 but won't adjust all of them. You may notice elements of the interface that don't change, such as the Windows Start Menu font. It's not possible to change these types of fonts in this version of Windows.

You may notice errors in text formatting after performing this change. The good news is these errors are infrequent. The bad news is they're not fixable.

How to Restore the Default Windows 10 Font

Want to restore your font to its default settings? You can also do this by editing the registry. Follow the steps above, starting at step 3. Place the text below into Notepad instead of the text found in step 4. 

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"
"Segoe MDL2 Assets (TrueType)"="segmdl2.ttf"
"Segoe Print (TrueType)"="segoepr.ttf"
"Segoe Print Bold (TrueType)"="segoeprb.ttf"
"Segoe Script (TrueType)"="segoesc.ttf"
"Segoe Script Bold (TrueType)"="segoescb.ttf"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

"Segoe UI"=-

This text will restore the default Segoe UI font across Windows 10 after you run the registry file.

Was this page helpful?