System claims all fonts are "In Use" when I try to delete them

Anonymous
2010-05-09T17:21:03+00:00

I am attempting to delete some non-system fonts that I installed.  Every time I try, no matter what the font, I am told that the font cannot be deleted because it is "in use".  It does not matter if I close every single program running and double-check that no word processors (I use Open Office) are running through Task Manager, the system will not allow me to delete any fonts.

Please help.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2012-05-07T11:35:25+00:00

Could it be this simple?  It worked for me!

http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/1189255.htm

The Windows Font folder itself is using the font, hence why you can't delete the font - i.e. the very tool you're using to delete the font is using said font and thus locking the file!

When in the Fonts folder click:

Organize > Layout > Untick 'Details pane' > Now try deleting the font.

Worked a treat for me.

Seriously needs addressing in the next service pack.

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Anonymous
2013-10-27T19:11:27+00:00

All, 

I MIGHT JUST HAVE THE FIX FOR THIS!!

I've been struggling for 1 hour to delete a font and I've finally done it.

I renamed the font and I could delete it immediately!

Before deleting it I set all the permissions to allow. I don't know if that helped but ultimately it worked.

I was in safe mode and that didn't work until the renaming trick.

Good luck.

G

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-06-21T17:27:32+00:00

    Thank you. That is really good to know.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-06-21T15:21:06+00:00

    SOLVED!!!

    I tried closing all apps like Word and PowerPoint and still didn't work.  I tried justinrpg7's suggestion and it didn't work for me.  What DID work (at least for ME in MY situation) is that you have to REALLY close the apps using the font with the Task Manager that must be running "invisibly" in the background.  (If you don't know what that means, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE at the same time, select Start Task Manager, click on the Processes tab, and look for apps that you closed but that are still running (for whatever reason) for example WINWORD.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, etc., right-click an app, select End Process, then select End Process again).  I suspect that just re-booting the PC so that no apps are running would have the same effect.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-24T02:54:13+00:00

    The solution for me was to browse the local filesystem as if it were a network drive, and delete the actual file, not the font name. See here for full details http://superuser.com/questions/264072/cant-remove-certain-fonts-in-windows-7. In the same thread other people report success using the free NexusFont manager.

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