How to Change the Default Font in Windows 10

If you're not a fan of the default font in Windows 10, Segoe, you can change it to your preferred font with a simple registry tweak. This will change the fonts for Windows 10's icons, menus, title bar text, File Explorer, and more.

First we'll back up your registry settings, so you can reverse the changes in case you don't like them later. Then we'll simply update the registry with a .reg file.

1. Press Win+R.

2. Type in regedit and press Enter.

3. Go to File > Export… to save the registry file somewhere on your hard drive.

4. Open Notepad and copy and paste the following into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
"Segoe UI (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Black (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Black Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Historic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Light (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Light Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Semibold Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Semilight (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Semilight Italic (TrueType)"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]
"Segoe UI"="Verdana"

Replace Verdana in the last line with the name of the font you want to use as your system default. You might have to open your Fonts folder (search for "fonts" in the Windows taskbar) to get the full, correct name of the font.

5. Click File > Save.

6. Change the "Save as" type to "All Files."

7. In the File name field, give the file a .reg extension. You can name it anything, as long as it ends in .reg.

8. Click Save.

9. Double-click the registry file you just created to run it. You'll be prompted to allow the file to make changes to the computer and confirm you want to continue, then get confirmation the changes were successfully made.

10. Restart your computer to see the font change applied across Windows 10.

Just don't change the default font to something like Wingdings, lest you render your system completely unreadable.

Customize Windows 10