Wish you could change more about the Windows interface than some accent color and the background image? Find out here how to change the Windows 10 font for the interface (menus and window titles, for instance).
First, Europe Before 822 and Since
Before the year 822 CE, people in all of Europe drank out of golden, bronzen or ceramic vessels, which they put on bare, wooden, or stone tables.
After 822 and ever since, Europeans put their drinks in glasses made of, well, glass or crystal—and those glasses on tables adorned with tablecloth.
In 822, Ziryab came to the Court of Cordoba in Spain as chief entertainer, and the rough changes above are among many attributed to the polymath from Baghdad.
How about effecting change—and stylish change at that—yourself today? With some difficulty, in Windows 10, you can:
How to Change the Windows 10 Interface Font
Most of the Windows 10 user interface uses the font Segoe UI. Using the registry, you can substitute another installed font for it to effectively change the Windows 10 font.
Time needed: 10 minutes
To change the font used for the interface in Windows 10:
- Blank out the Segoe UI default font in the Windows registry.
Here’s how:
– Download the file Blank Segoe UI.zip (MD5 checksum to verify: 7b0a94de696f2e3efc3db1ebc079f91c).
– Extract the files inside to get Blank Segoe UI.reg.
– Open the downloaded file in a text editor to verify it only contains text.
– Double-click Blank Segoe UI.reg and merge its changes to your Windows registry. - Open the Windows registry editor.
- Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes key.
- Select Edit | New | String Value from the menu.
- Enter
Segoe UIfor the key name.
- Double-click the new Segoe UI value.
- Enter the name for the font you want to use for the Windows interface under Value data:.
Find the font name: Press Windows I , go to Personalization and then the Fonts category; note the desired font’s name (in blue).
Note: Bauhaus 93 does not make for a good user interface font; I use it just for demonstration.
- Click OK.
- Log out of and back into Windows.
How to Restore the Default Interface Font (Segoe UI)
To restore the Windows 10 interface to its default font:
- Open registry editor.
- Travel to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes key.
- Click the Segoe UI value with the right mouse button.
- Select Delete from the menu that has appeared.
- Click Yes for Confirm Value Delete.
- Download the file Restore Segoe UI.zip (MD5 checksum: 9716d18777e218ceab9796c1b33b5802).
- Unzip the file to get Restore Segoe UI.reg.
- Verify the file contains nothing but text.
- Double-click Restore Segoe UI.reg in Windows Explorer.
- Merge the changes to your registry.
- Log out of any back into Windows 10.
How to Change the Windows 10 Interface Font: FAQ
What is the default Windows font?
The default font for most of the Windows 10 interface is Segoe UI.
Can I change the font only for one user?
No, all interface font changes apply to all users.
(If you create a HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes key in the Windows registry, values in it will not affect the interface.)
Will the font substitution apply everywhere in Windows 10?
No.
While you can change the Windows 10 font for
- menus,
- file names,
- Window titles
and more, some applications, apps and user interface elements still use their own font settings. One notable place is the Windows Start menu, for instance.
(How to change the Windows 10 interface font tested with Version 20H2; updated September 2022)