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Deleting Helvetica Neue, Override "Font is in use" Error Message

Anonymous
2023-03-13T20:16:37+00:00

I'm on Windows 11 x64. For some reason, Chrome has decided to start using a narrow variant of Helvetica Neue as its default font even though I didn't set it as the default. It's not even listed in my Chrome default fonts, so I'm not sure what I could even do there, nor does clicking "Restore default font settings" work from the Font Settings panel (in Windows settings, I mean). Because of that, I am unable to delete Helvetica Neue; instead I get an error message saying that the font is "in use," even when I reboot and don't have Chrome or any other apps open. This is extremely annoying as text is now uncomfortably narrow to read. Is there any way of deleting HN through the registry editor, or is there some other way? Thanks in advance for your help.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-14T04:04:05+00:00

    Hi

    Welcome to Microsoft community.

    You can try the following methods to remove the font you wanted.

    • Open MSCONFIG (Admin Tools) and in the Boot tab, set for minimal boot. Restart and remove the Font.
    1. From your desktop right-click and select personalize.
    2. Move to the Fonts tab.
    3. Select a font and remove it. (Also you can click on three dots and an Uninstall button will appear)

    OR

    • Restart in Safe Mode and then remove the Font.

    The objective is to not have apps starting that use the Font.

    Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks. 

    Best regards

    Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

    7 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2023-09-21T01:34:33+00:00

    Hi

    Welcome to Microsoft community.

    You can try the following methods to remove the font you wanted.

    • Open MSCONFIG (Admin Tools) and in the Boot tab, set for minimal boot. Restart and remove the Font.
    1. From your desktop right-click and select personalize.
    2. Move to the Fonts tab.
    3. Select a font and remove it. (Also you can click on three dots and an Uninstall button will appear)

    OR

    • Restart in Safe Mode and then remove the Font.

    The objective is to not have apps starting that use the Font.

    Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks. 

    Best regards

    Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

    Holy mother of all the answers!!

    It worked.

    I had the same exact problem, and rebooting in safe mode allowed me to delete the font!

    Now the headers in my browsers are readable.

    Thank you SO much Derrick Qian!!

    6 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-02T21:26:18+00:00

    I found a solution.

    The problem

    So the problem is that Helvetica Neue somehow became the system font for Windows. As it is the system font, it will also be shown on some websites that default to the Windows system font. As it is the system font, it is tied to core processes of the operating system UI, and therefore it is impossible to remove the font even in Safe Mode (file is being locked by a system process that persists even in a minimal boot environment).

    So what do we need to do?

    So what we need to do is to reset the system font on Windows. Let's restore it to the Segoe UI font.

    The solution:

    1. First let's create a registry file to reset the system font. Open Notepad.
    2. Copy and paste this:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

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

    "Segoe UI (TrueType)"="segoeui.ttf"

    "Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)"="segoeuib.ttf"

    "Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)"="segoeuii.ttf"

    "Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)"="segoeuiz.ttf"

    "Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)"="seguisb.ttf"

    "Segoe UI Light (TrueType)"="segoeuil.ttf"

    "Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)"="seguisym.ttf"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

    "Segoe UI"="Segoe UI"

    1. Save the file with a .reg extension on your desktop - for example as RestoreSegoeUI.reg
    2. Double-click it to run it. If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to allow the changes. A warning will appear asking if you want to continue; click Yes to proceed.
    3. Restart your PC.
    4. Now the font in your browser should be normal again (Segoe UI).
    5. Go to C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts and delete Helvetica fonts. You shouldn't get no error anymore.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2024-01-31T21:18:08+00:00

    Any other ideas? When I boot in safe mode i dont have the option to delete the font.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2024-03-08T02:52:42+00:00

    It did not work for us. Either one.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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