Removing foreign language fonts

Anonymous

Does anyone know of a way to remove the many foreign language fonts from Windows 7? There wasn't an option to exclude them during setup. I've tried deleting them, but Windows tells me that they are system fonts which cannot be deleted. I've also tried "Hiding" them, but they still show up in the font list in Office and other programs. All I want and need are the basic English language fonts. Having to wade through dozens of useless (to me) fonts is a major annoyance. There should be a way to exclude them from my system if I don't need them.

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Anonymous

Hello mcbarker69,

The reason that I did not know the fonts in question is because no particular fonts were mentioned, and I had gone into fonts and removed a couple foreign fonts with no problem. However that being said, in order to remove the fonts that are being referred to follow these steps:

Take ownership of the file:

- Click Start Orb > type fonts in the search box > click Fonts

- Right-click the font > click Properties - Click Security tab > click Advanced - Click Owner > click Edit - Select your Username > click OK

Click OK on the Windows Security box

Change Permissions of the file:

- Click Permissions > click Change Permissions

- Select your Username > click Edit

- Checkmark Allow for Full control

- Click OK - Click OK

Click Yes on the Windows Security box

- Click OK

You will need to remember the names of your font(s) that you want to delete.

Delete the file:

Will need to start Safe mode with command prompt

Restart your computer and tap F-8 continually, this will bring you to your Advanced Boot Options, select Safe mode with command prompt.

Once you have booted:

In command prompt navigate to fonts:

- type cd c:\windows\fonts > press enter

- type del "font name" > press enter *Do not use the quotes around the font name

This should bring you back to a clean prompt.

Once you are finished > Ctrl+Alt+Del > select restart from the arrow in the bottom right corner of your screen and start Windows normally.

Hope this helps

As the Windows Security box states; this could cause Windows to act differently. Make sure you know which fonts you are removing and that Windows does not need them before you remove any protected system fonts. This could cause many complications with your installation of Windows.

Chris.H

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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133 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-05-23T17:25:52+00:00

So ... six years later ... we still can't remove fonts for languages we don't use and never have any intention of using. In order to "protect" me from the horror of ever seeing a blank box where Thai text should be, I'm forced to page through dozens of unwanted, unneeded, useless fonts any time I use virtually any Windows program. And after six years, this still has not been dealt with.

I'll take the risk of seeing an empty box instead of Thai text. I'm a strong person, I think I can handle it. For the love of all that's holy, unholy, or indifferent, I just want to be able to pick a font of my choice for a layout without having to page through dozens and dozens of ones for alphabets I can't read for languages I probably don't even know exist.

Microsoft used to be "You know what you're doing; we'll give you the tools to do it." Now it's like Apple: "We know what's best for you, and we'll force you to do it that way even if you mistakenly think you want something different than what we've chosen for you, because you're not smart enough to make any decisions for yourself."
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Anonymous

2016-02-27T03:38:40+00:00

So MS Support acknowledged these bugs way back in 2010 and it's now 2016 and nothing has been done to fix them? I'm not a techie person, but I'm learning Linux. MS is full of these insane bugs that make it through upgrade after upgrade (STILL can't rename a folder that you've just modified either).
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Anonymous

2016-02-16T19:09:26+00:00

I followed the instructions verbatim and as an administrator. The batch file ran and in the process repeated many times the following to the screen:

'icacls' is not recognized as an operable program or batch file.

0 files moved and

Access is denied and

The system cannot find the specified files.

When it was all done no font files were residing in the c:\2manyfonts directory and the fonts I wanted rid of are still listed in FONTS, and I looked in your batch file and you are indeed targeting the fonts I wanted rid of. I don't know who presumed I'd ever need those, but most of my applications list them making my list of fonts way to long. I'm slightly acquainted with batch files but not ICACLS and that seems to be one of the glitches on my machine (Windows 7 x64)

I directed/piped the output of the batch file that normally goes to the screen to a TXT file with the following results:

BEGIN END BATCH FILE WRITES TO SCREEN

=================================================================

C:\2ManyFonts>REM This is the batch file _2mf.bat version 1.0 from 2010-03-15

C:\2ManyFonts>REM This batch file which will move 150 non-latin fonts

C:\2ManyFonts>REM from the Windows\Fonts directory to a backup directory

C:\2ManyFonts>REM Please read the readme.txt for more information

C:\2ManyFonts>REM Latest version and news can be found in the blog-post

C:\2ManyFonts>REM "How to remove Windows 7 non-latin fonts" on

C:\2ManyFonts>REM http://www.support-ing.de/2010-02-11/how-to-remove-windows-7-not-latin-fonts

C:\2ManyFonts>REM

C:\2ManyFonts>REM Use on your own risk

C:\2ManyFonts>REM

C:\2ManyFonts>REM Written by Support-Ing Martin Ihde, http://www.support-ing.de

C:\2ManyFonts>REM

Fonts will be moved from c:\Windows\Fonts\ to c:\2manyfonts\

Continue? Please press "y" for yes or "n" for no:          0 file(s) moved.

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.

.

Finished! :-)

.

Press any key to continue . . .

=================================================================

END BATCH FILE WRITES TO SCREEN

This bat file was run in c:\2manyfonts and the path in that place was as follows:

PATH=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\MICROSOFT SHARED\WINDOWS LIVE;C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\COMMON FILES\MICROSOFT SHARED\WINDOWS LIVE;C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\INTEL\ICLS CLIENT;C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTEL\ICLS CLIENT;C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\ATI TECHNOLOGIES\ATI.ACE\CORE-STATIC;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\Windows;C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\AMD\ATI.ACE\CORE-STATIC;;C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Bluetooth Software;C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Bluetooth Software\syswow64;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Seagate\SnapAPI;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\

I don't know if 'icacls' is an OS internal or batch internal command I'm unfamiliar with, or if it was an executable assumed to be in my path and wasnt?

Any tips on what I missed to make this valuable and time saving batch run are welcomed. Thanks, Dean

******@cox.net 2/16/16
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Anonymous

2015-12-03T01:47:33+00:00
I luuuuuv all the techie talk about this annoyance! But if you're like me (i.e. not a computer geek at all), you'll appreciate this spectacularly simple fix for the Foreign Font Scourge problem.

Just de-register the unwanted fonts & families.
1. run regedit.exe
2. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
1. Delete the font names you don't want.
Note that this proc does not remove the fonts from your PC. It just hides them from Windows so they won't clutter up your font lists.

I found this fix here:

<http://www.wikihow.com/Delete-Protected-System-Fonts-in-Windows-7>
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