PC issue with font

Question

Hi! 

I've had an interesting issue with a windows 10 laptop recently which I cannot find any information on! It's now been over a month, with several attempts to resolve this and no success. 

The font "Verdana" has issues. Here are the symptoms:

-If you browse to C:\Windows\Fonts in windows explorer and scroll down, as soon as you hit "Verdana" explorer.exe crashes, and windows explorer closes, the desktop and task bar disappear for a second and then come back. 

-If send an email to outlook 2016, as soon as you open or even preview the email, outlook crashes. 

-Trying to write an email or document in this font crashes the application you are using with no warnings. 

-Nothing odd in event viewer. I have no logs regarding this error whatsoever to try and resolve this issue.

-The PC is up to date. 

-Chkdsk and SFC /scannow report that there are no errors. 

-The Verdana font renders fine in google chrome. 

-I copied the verdana font from a working PC running Windows 10 to a USB. Plugging in the usb, no issues. I copied (via CMD) the font to the desktop. This was a big mistake. Explorer.exe continuously crashed over and over again, and the laptop became unusable. I had to shut down the laptop, log on to a different account, and delete the font via CMD. 

-The symptoms are the same for all users on the laptop. 

-Refreshing the computer using the windows 10 advanced boot options menu does not resolve the issue. 

-I've tried clearing the font cache using the following process: 

Stop + disable the Windows Font Cache Service

Stop + disable the Windows Presentation Foundation Font Cache 3.0.0.0 Service

delete C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\*.dat

delete C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\FontCache

Any ideas? Has anyone seen anything similar to this before?

Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Zac.

Answer 1

Hi Zac,

Let try follow these Methods:

Method 1: Run the DISM Tool.

If the issue persists, I would have you run the DISM tool to check the system health and will try to restore the files.

1. Click on 'Start'.

2. Enter 'Command prompt' in the Search box.  

3. In the list of results, swipe down on or right-click Command prompt, and then tap or click 'Run as administrator'. 

4. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type the following commands. Press the Enter key after each command:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

To close the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type Exit, and then press Enter.

Note: The tool might take 15-20 minutes to finish running, so please do not cancel it.

Method 2:

Type the following in a Windows PowerShell as Administrator:

1.Launch PowerShell

2.Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

3.Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Restart your device.

Let me know.

Angel.

Answer 2

Hi Angel,

I've already tried something similar to this. I held down shift, pressed "restart", that takes you to advanced boot options. I then performed a reset whilst keeping files and data. I believe this has the same effect as the procedure you have mentioned. 

I carried out this procedure while the user + laptop were in the UK. Currently, they are in France (on a permanent basis), and doing this procedure would be risky (in the case of the repair failing).

Are there any other suggestions?

Many thanks,

zac.

Answer 3

Hi,

My name is Angel. I am an Independent Advisor. Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I suggest that you try performing a repair upgrade by following Andre Da Costa's instructions in his article to try resolve the issue.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Hope the information provided is useful. If the issue persists, reply here and we will be glad to help you.

Angel.