Windows 10 Wi-Fi and Mobile Hotspot icons displayed incorrectly — fixed by correcting Segoe MDL2 Assets mapping

Hello,

I am sharing a solution to a Windows UI issue in case it helps other users who experience the same symptoms.

Symptoms

The Wi-Fi connection and Internet access were working normally, but several Wi-Fi-related icons in the Windows user interface were displayed incorrectly, appearing as a square, rectangle, or otherwise malformed icon.

The issue affected multiple locations:

• Wi-Fi icon on the taskbar
• Wi-Fi flyout/panel
• Wi-Fi icon in Settings
• Mobile Hotspot icon in Settings

The network connection itself continued to work normally.

Investigation

The issue appeared to be related to the Segoe MDL2 Assets system font, which Windows uses for many interface icons.

The Segoe MDL2 Assets font family was available and could be loaded successfully. Several relevant glyphs were also tested independently and rendered correctly.

This suggested that the font was not simply missing or completely unusable.

The important finding was the registry mapping for the Segoe MDL2 Assets font.

The relevant registry location is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

The value named:

Segoe MDL2 Assets (TrueType)

was pointing to:

segmdl2_0.ttf

The standard Segoe MDL2 Assets font file, however, is:

segmdl2.ttf

Solution

Before making any registry changes, create a backup of the Fonts registry key.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts" "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Fonts-Backup.reg" /y

After confirming that the backup was created successfully, change the Segoe MDL2 Assets mapping:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts" -Name "Segoe MDL2 Assets (TrueType)" -Value "segmdl2.ttf"

Then verify the value:

Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts" |

Select-Object "Segoe MDL2 Assets (TrueType)"

The expected value should be:

segmdl2.ttf

Restart Windows after making the change.

Result

After restarting, the affected icons were displayed correctly, including:

• Wi-Fi taskbar icon
• Wi-Fi flyout
• Wi-Fi icon in Settings
• Mobile Hotspot icon

The network connection remained functional throughout the process.

Important note

This is a report of a solution that successfully resolved this particular type of UI problem. It should not be considered a universal solution for every case involving malformed Wi-Fi icons.

If you experience the same symptoms, checking the Segoe MDL2 Assets registry mapping may be worthwhile before performing more disruptive network troubleshooting.

Always create a registry backup before modifying registry values.

Microsoft documents Segoe MDL2 Assets as a Windows system font and identifies Segmdl2.ttf as its associated font file.

I hope this helps other users avoid unnecessary network troubleshooting when the underlying problem may actually be related to Windows UI icon rendering.