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
    2013-07-02T21:55:16+00:00

    Wow, this is still a problem in Windows 8. What happened to "If a file is in use, Windows will now tell you what program is using it!"? Sounded like a great feature when it launched (with Win7?) but that's only been the case for a handful of files over the years.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-19T23:06:08+00:00

    any updates on this?  having same problem on win 7 sp1 64-bit.  Is there a utility that can just write 0's over the font file on the hard drive / ssd?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-21T16:54:54+00:00

    Amazing. Couldn't even delete in safe mode, yet this worked for me. Windows 7 is 4 years old and there are still ridiculous bugs like this. Unbelievable.

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