windows 7 default font changed - unreadable wingdings

Question

After an auto update a few days ago, Windows 7 changed default font to wingdings.  I cannot read anything in any program/control panel/desktop/whatever.  I tried recovery to 2 previous restore points and it did not change.  Tried starting in safe mode - wingdings there, too.  Went into font setup part of control panel (using screenshots of this, since I can't read a single thing) and changed back to default font, but it did not work, even after restarting.  I ran sfc and it did not find any "integrity violations."

I CAN read the command prompt I access through start/accessories (had to guess where to click).  I can also read the screen when I push F1 while booting to get to the boot menu - that is readable and how I attempted to do system restore.

I have an Asus U52F laptop with Windows Home Premium 7 x64.  That's all I can tell you at the moment since I can't read anything about my system.  I had not installed anything new for several days prior.  This happened after an automatic restart after a windows automatic update.

I have been scouring the web the last couple days to find an answer. There are references to this problem out there, but no real fixes or answers yet.  I absolutely must fix this.

What do I do to get Windows 7's operating normally again?

Answer 1

To resolve this problem, follow these steps.Important This section, method, or t...

To resolve this problem, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. In the left pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion 3. Expand CurrentVersion, and verify that the Fonts registry subkey is present. 4. If the Fontsregistry subkey is missing, create a new subkey. To do this, follow these steps: 1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key. 2. Type Fonts, and then press ENTER. 3. Exit Registry Editor. 5. Click Start, click Run, type fonts, and then click OK. 6. On the File menu, click Install New Font. 7. In the Drives list, select the drive where the Windows system folder is located.

Note Typically, the C drive is the drive where the Windows system folder is located. 8. In the Folders list, double-click the Fonts subfolder. 9. When all the fonts are displayed in the List of fonts list, click Select All, and then click OK. If the default Windows display font is a symbol font such as Wingdings or Webdings, you may not be able to use steps 1 through 9. In this case, follow these steps:

1. Copy the following text.

Note The fonts that are listed in this text apply only to the EMEA region and to the North America region.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts] "Roman (All res)"="ROMAN.FON" "Script (All res)"="SCRIPT.FON" "Modern (All res)"="MODERN.FON" "Small Fonts (VGA res)"="SMALLE.FON" "Arial (TrueType)"="ARIAL.TTF" "Arial Bold (TrueType)"="ARIALBD.TTF" "Arial Bold Italic (TrueType)"="ARIALBI.TTF" "Arial Italic (TrueType)"="ARIALI.TTF" "Courier New (TrueType)"="COUR.TTF" "Courier New Bold (TrueType)"="COURBD.TTF" "Courier New Bold Italic (TrueType)"="COURBI.TTF" "Courier New Italic (TrueType)"="COURI.TTF" "Lucida Console (TrueType)"="LUCON.TTF" "Lucida Sans Unicode (TrueType)"="L_10646.TTF" "Times New Roman (TrueType)"="TIMES.TTF" "Times New Roman Bold (TrueType)"="TIMESBD.TTF" "Times New Roman Bold Italic (TrueType)"="TIMESBI.TTF" "Times New Roman Italic (TrueType)"="TIMESI.TTF" "WingDings (TrueType)"="WINGDING.TTF" "Symbol (TrueType)"="SYMBOL.TTF" "Symbol 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)"="SYMBOLE.FON" "Verdana (TrueType)"="verdana.TTF" "Verdana Bold (TrueType)"="verdanab.TTF" "Verdana Italic (TrueType)"="verdanai.TTF" "Verdana Bold Italic (TrueType)"="verdanaz.TTF" "Arial Black (TrueType)"="ariblk.TTF" "Comic Sans MS (TrueType)"="comic.TTF" "Comic Sans MS Bold (TrueType)"="comicbd.TTF" "Impact (TrueType)"="impact.TTF" "Georgia (TrueType)"="georgia.TTF" "Georgia Bold (TrueType)"="georgiab.TTF" "Georgia Bold Italic (TrueType)"="georgiaz.TTF" "Georgia Italic (TrueType)"="georgiai.TTF" "Franklin Gothic Medium (TrueType)"="Framd.TTF" "Franklin Gothic Medium Italic (TrueType)"="Framdit.TTF" "Palatino Linotype (TrueType)"="pala.TTF" "Palatino Linotype Bold (TrueType)"="palab.TTF" "Palatino Linotype Bold Italic (TrueType)"="palabi.TTF" "Palatino Linotype Italic (TrueType)"="palai.TTF" "Tahoma Bold (TrueType)"="tahomabd.TTF" "Trebuchet MS (TrueType)"="trebuc.TTF" "Trebuchet MS Bold (TrueType)"="trebucbd.TTF" "Trebuchet MS Bold Italic (TrueType)"="trebucbi.TTF" "Trebuchet MS Italic (TrueType)"="trebucit.TTF" "Webdings (TrueType)"="webdings.TTF" "Estrangelo Edessa (TrueType)"="estre.TTF" "Gautami (TrueType)"="gautami.TTF" "Latha (TrueType)"="latha.TTF" "Mangal (TrueType)"="mangal.TTF" "Mv Boli (TrueType)"="mvboli.TTF" "Raavi (TrueType)"="raavi.TTF" "Shruti (TrueType)"="shruti.TTF" "Tunga (TrueType)"="tunga.TTF" "Sylfaen (TrueType)"="sylfaen.TTF" "WST_Czec (All res)"="wst_czec.FON" "WST_Engl (All res)"="wst_engl.FON" "WST_Fren (All res)"="wst_fren.FON" "WST_Germ (All res)"="wst_germ.FON" "WST_Ital (All res)"="wst_ital.FON" "WST_Span (All res)"="wst_span.FON" "WST_Swed (All res)"="wst_swed.FON" "Courier 10,12,15 (VGA res)"="COURE.FON" "MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)"="SSERIFE.FON" "MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)"="SERIFE.FON" "Tahoma (TrueType)"="TAHOMA.TTF" "Microsoft Sans Serif (TrueType)"="MICROSS.TTF" "Arial Narrow (TrueType)"="ARIALN.TTF" "Book Antiqua (TrueType)"="BKANT.TTF" "Bookman Old Style (TrueType)"="BOOKOS.TTF" "Century Gothic (TrueType)"="GOTHIC.TTF" "Garamond (TrueType)"="GARA.TTF" "Haettenschweiler (TrueType)"="HATTEN.TTF" "MS Outlook (TrueType)"="OUTLOOK.TTF" "Monotype Corsiva (TrueType)"="MTCORSVA.TTF" "Wingdings 2 (TrueType)"="WINGDNG2.TTF" "Wingdings 3 (TrueType)"="WINGDNG3.TTF" "Book Antiqua Bold (TrueType)"="ANTQUAB.TTF" "Book Antiqua Bold Italic (TrueType)"="ANTQUABI.TTF" "Book Antiqua Italic (TrueType)"="ANTQUAI.TTF" "Arial Narrow Bold (TrueType)"="ARIALNB.TTF" "Arial Narrow Bold Italic (TrueType)"="ARIALNBI.TTF" "Arial Narrow Italic (TrueType)"="ARIALNI.TTF" "Bookman Old Style Bold (TrueType)"="BOOKOSB.TTF" "Bookman Old Style Bold Italic (TrueType)"="BOOKOSBI.TTF" "Bookman Old Style Italic (TrueType)"="BOOKOSI.TTF" "Bookshelf Symbol 7 (TrueType)"="BSSYM7.TTF" "Garamond Bold (TrueType)"="GARABD.TTF" "Garamond Italic (TrueType)"="GARAIT.TTF" "Century Gothic Bold (TrueType)"="GOTHICB.TTF" "Century Gothic Bold Italic (TrueType)"="GOTHICBI.TTF" "Century Gothic Italic (TrueType)"="GOTHICI.TTF" "MS Reference Sans Serif (TrueType)"="REFSAN.TTF" "MS Reference Specialty (TrueType)"="REFSPCL.TTF"

1. Click Start, click Run, type notepad, and then click OK.
2. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
3. On the File menu, click Save.
4. In the File name list, type fonts.reg.
5. In the Save in list, locate the folder where you want to save the Fonts.reg file, and then click Save.
6. Exit Notepad.
7. Locate and then double-click the Fonts.reg file that you saved.
8. Click Yes when you are prompted.
9. Restart the computer.

From - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919752

Answer 2

OK, After hours of trying to figure out what to do and not being able to read my screens as you know I found the fix. You will need another computer running your system i.e. windows 7. You will need to go to your c drive and go to the windows folder. Then find the fonts folder. If you cant read it the folder will have an A that you can see. Copy the fonts folder from the working computer and copy it into the fonts folder of the non working computer then restart. I did it with a flash drive and opened the flash drive and highlighted everything in the fonts folder and then pasted it in the fonts folder on the non working computer. It will start to fix the words slowly but it is best to restart in when that happenes. There you go problem is fixed hope that helps everyone that is freaking out over this like I did.

Answer 3

Think the key phrase is I cant read a single letter or understand anything on my system or desk top! Do to the umpteenth thousand what's goanna happen update.  But your tech person is reading right off the pages of his tech script word for word.  You did the right fix a working OS dropping the folder into a floundering update MS mishap

but you still have to make sure the Reg has the subkey: font. Happen to me back in oh what dizziling update day that was Oh and all the fonts listed above take the useless ones and hit the big delete key you wont use them I'm sure.

Just Imagine if there where 3 or 4 or even 5 companies competing with MS where would we be in the OS world?

Nye D Jones

Answer 4

I've just had the same problem, and it turns out the Users group permissions on the Fonts key had disappeared somehow.    Re-adding <host*>*\Users with READ permission solved it.

Answer 5

Windows 10. Just run in to the same problem on my laptop after a windows update. Symbols and gibberish everywhere in system windows (browsers and settings options were fine). Icons, folder names, registry unreadable. After three unsuccessful hours with Microsoft tech support, few restore points reversal, and tons of restarts they just gave up and recommended reinstall.

Here is what worked for me. W10 has about 8 symbol fonts so I started deleting one by one until I found out that Marlett font was the one causing the trouble. The only way to delete anything (since you cannot navigate or read anything) is to use Command Prompt (Settings/Update&Security/Recovery/Advanced Start Up/Troubleshoot/Advanced Options). Go to Windows/Fonts folder (CD command) and see what font is causing the trouble (wingdings, webdings, marlett) and get rid of it (DEL /F command) and restart.

This got me back to readable workable computer again. Hope this helps out little bit. 

P.S. make sure you enter Command Prompt from Advanced Start Up option.