Windows 10: Unable to delete font files due to "Font cannot be deleted because it's in use" error

Greetings community,I'm experiencing an issue while trying to delete a font family Roboto from my PC. Each time I attempt to delete it, I receive the error message: "Font cannot be deleted because it's in use." I have ensured that no programs are open, rebooted my PC several times, and tried the workaround "Organize > Layout > Untick 'Details pane' > Delete the font," but none of these solutions have resolved the issue. Does anyone have any ideas on how to successfully delete this font?Thank you.

:)

 

Deleting Fonts from Windows 10 that don't appear in regedit

I have a "Bliss" font that I use on other systems and is licensed for use on my Surface Pro with Windows 10 - Version 1809

It is currently in my fonts list, but unfortunately the Bliss-Regular.otf file I installed appears to be conflicting with a BLISS-Regular_01.otf version of the same name font, and it's not presenting properly.

I've tried the simple steps to uninstalling/deleting the problem file, but I can only delete the new file, and the old file remains due to the 'in use' issue.

I've attempted the steps to deleting the file from the registry; however, the Bliss font doesn't even exist in the registry.

It doesn't appear in either of these areas:

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

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

This sure has been a time-killer. I hope I can receive some help here. Thank you.

 

Windows 10: Unable to delete fonts (protected systems)

I found a way to delete the system protected font Comic Sans MS.

• Open up regedit
• Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
• Make a note of all of the names of the fonts that you want to remove
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes
• Create a new string key for each font name that you will delete and set the Data to the name of the font that you want to replace it with.

For example, I removed "Comic Sans MS (TrueType)". I added a new key "Comic Sans MS" and value "Arial". I did this for all 4 comic sans fonts.

• Then go back to the Fonts section and delete the keys for the fonts that you no longer want. The font files will still be on the hard drive but windows will no longer use them.
• Reboot
• Enjoy a life free of ever seeing Comic Sans again!

I can make a simple program to automate this if there is enough interest.

Do be careful if you are deleting fonts that the system actually uses. It worked with comic sans because it really isn't used by the system. Don't go deleting Segoe UI.

 

how to delete an in use font on windows 10?

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

As per the description, I understand that you are facing some issues using Windows 10.

I would like to know some information.

• 
  What is the exact issue that you are facing?
  
• 
  Do you want to delete the current font?
  

Follow the steps given below.

• 
  Open Fonts by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Fonts.
  
• 
  Click the font that you want to uninstall. To select more than one font at a time, press and hold down CTRL while you click each font.
  
• 
  On the File menu, click Delete.
  

Hope the information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance with Windows related issues, we’ll be glad to assist you.