How to reset Windows font settings and restore default fonts
Microsoft has improved the boot time of Windows 8 significantly in comparison to previous versions of the operating system.
While that is great, it does not mean that the startup time won't increase. If you install autostart programs for instance, or too many fonts, then you may notice that system start will slow down regardless of the improvements that Microsoft made.
We mentioned back in 2007 that fonts can slow down the start of the operating system, and things do not seem to have changed much in this regard.
Older versions of Windows don't ship with options to remove non-system fonts from the system. That's why third-party programs such as Font Frenzy were created which provided that functionality.
There is no clear distinction between system and third-party fonts in Windows. If you happen to remove fonts, by loading the fonts control panel applet and simply hitting delete on the keyboard after selecting fonts, you may remove system fonts that are still used by programs running on Windows.
So what can you do if you have accidentally deleted fonts that you still require? And how can you remove non-system fonts from the operating system without running the risk of removing system fonts?
Resetting font settings
It is easy to reset all font settings in Windows 7 or Windows. This can be necessary after font settings have been modified either by a user or by programs on the system.
Font settings determine among other things which font is used to display window titles or text in notification boxes.
- Press the Start button to open the Start Menu if you are running Windows 7, or the Start screen if you run Windows 8.
- Type change font settings and select that result from the list.
- Here you need to click on restore default font settings to remove all font customizations on the operating system.
Restore default fonts
This is actually not as easy as it sounds as you cannot list all system fonts on Windows to find out which are missing. There are two ways to restore default fonts.
Copy fonts from a Windows installation directory
If you have access to a Windows installation directory, either extracted on the hard drive or in form of an ISO image, then you can copy the fonts from it to the fonts directory on your system to add them again in case they have been deleted previously.
It is essential that you use the same version of Windows if possible. If you are running Windows 7, use a Windows 7 ISO, and if you run Windows 8.1 use the ISO for it and not Windows 8.If you have an ISO image, you can mount it directly if you are running Windows 8. To do so, right-click the image and select mount from the context menu. It becomes available as a drive letter afterwards.If you run Windows 7, use a program like WinCDEmu instead which can do the same.Alternatively, burn it to disc or extract the contents of the ISO using a program like 7-zip.
- Mount or extract the Windows iso image first.
- Download GImageX from this website.
- Run the program and switch to the mount tab in it.
- Select an empty existing folder on the system as the mount point, for instance on that you create. The program will move the files into it so make sure enough space is available on the drive.
- Select sources\install.wim in the source directory and click on mount afterwards.
- It takes a while to mount the files.
- What's left now is open Windows\Fonts on the selected folder and copy the fonts from it to the fonts folder of Windows c:\Windows\Fonts.
Copy fonts from another Windows PC
If you run the same version of Windows on another device, you may want to consider moving the fonts from that device over to the system missing fonts.
You find all installed fonts in the C:\Windows\Fonts\ folder on the system. Use Windows Explorer of File Explorer on Windows 8 to browse to the location and copy them all to a flash drive, on a blank DVD, or via direct transfer options to the device missing fonts.
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277