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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.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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.
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
IT DOESN'T WORK FOR ME!!!!!!! I DO NOT HAVE AN 'APPEARANCE AND PERSONALIZATION' OPTION IN CONTROL PANEL!!!!! THIS METHOD WILL NOT WORK AS I DON'T HAVE AN OPTION TO DO WHAT YOU SAY TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worked for me! Thanks a bunch - such a relief to finally solve this.
Ridiculously simple - and yes needs addressing.
Note that I had to restart after closing the preview pane, before being able to delete the fonts.
Hello Kass_P,
Are you trying to uninstall fonts that you installed, from a third party? If so, does their website have instructions on how to uninstall?
Are you trying to delete the font with the same steps described as below?
- Open Fonts by clicking the Start button
, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Fonts.
- Click the font you want to delete. To select more than one font at a time, press and hold down the Ctrl key while you click each font.
- On the toolbar, click Delete.
Please let us know status.
Yes this is the exact procedure I used. And yes as I originally wrote they are third party fonts.
I have around 50 fonts I want to delete now, from many different websites. But no the problem is not that these fonts require some special method for deletion.
For example, I have downloaded several fonts from Google web fonts. Most of these are deleted without problem. One in particular is not.
Please read my original post, which I believe answers these questions already. I am not a computer novice - I know how to normally delete a font. I have also had a computer expert look into the issue, and he was also stumped. There is clearly a problem with the way Microsoft is handling the fonts... perhaps it mistakenly assigns them system font status?
Sincerely,
Regretting I Didn't Get A Mac (which has a wonderful built-in system for organizing fonts)
