Clangers Minimum Fonts List [en-US/en-GB only]

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Clanger

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This list was originally compiled on Windows 7(en-us(us and gb only) iso with no language packs added) but could be used/modified for all later windows client(all editions) and server versions, just to be safe i would keep whatever else nuhi recommends.
Can also be applied to boot.wim - microsoft windows setup.

Code: 
CLANGERS-KEEP-FONTS-LIST-2022-03-30
Arial
Arial Black
Calibri
Cambria
ComicSansMS
Consolas
Courier
CourierNew
Georgia
Lucida Console
Lucida Sans Unicode
Malgun Gothic
Marlett
Microsoft Sans Serif
MS Sans Serif
MS Serif
MS Gothic & MS UI Gothic
Segoe UI
Segoe UI
Symbol
System
Tahoma
Terminal
TimesNewRoman
TrebuchetMS
 
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I've never messed with fonts before, and this post gave me a few questions that prompted me to do some Googling.

I couldn't find any reputable sources, but it sounds like Windows loads fonts into memory, whether they are used or not, as there are some reports of high amounts of fonts causing performance issues. Is it true these are loaded into memory each reboot?

The other question I had, are there repercussions to removing fonts, besides the obvious fact that you can't use it in a word processor? I.E. If a program needs a font that has been removed, will it default to a fallback font instead, or will it just fail to load, crash, or give an error?
 
nLite(for XP) had an "Extra Fonts" option which i always used. Now we can select individual fonts so why not test and remove uneeded fonts?
w7 Pro x64 C:\Windows\Fonts is 340MB, add another(estimated) 340mb for fonts in winsxs, thats 680MB(estimated).
To put that into perspective i could get xp x86 installed at about 600MB and w7 pro x64(bareboned) installed at 1.26(1.16???)GB.

The only time i have seen a program complain of a missing font(and asks you to select another) was Winyl Media Player. Different programs may act differently.

If you are working on a full default and updated captured wim image you will have all the fonts availible and can easily import them if required and add them to your own particular fonts keep list as per your requirements.

You remove uneeded fonts for the same reason you remove other uneeded components, to slim down the total installed size.
If you go careful like i and others do you trim off the fat but leave the meat of the OS intact. Fonts are fat and can be trimmed off. A few MB a few MB there and it all adds up.
 
Hellbovine said:
I couldn't find any reputable sources, but it sounds like Windows loads fonts into memory, whether they are used or not, as there are some reports of high amounts of fonts causing performance issues. Is it true these are loaded into memory each reboot?
Click to expand...
Windows 10 introduced the WPF Font Cache Service to improve performance for .NET apps. You can disable it.
Like many services it doesn't consume much overhead unless it's broken (corrupted cache). Resetting the cache is well explained.
 
Thank you both, once I changed my search terms to focus on "cache" I got much better results this time. I played around with resetting the cache using the TenForums bat file. It looks like this whole Font caching/service is quite similar in nature to some of the others, such as IconCache, etcetera.
 
Clanger said:
Windows 7, en-us(us and gb only) iso with no language packs added.

Code: 
CLANGERS-KEEP-FONTS-LIST-2022-03-30
Arial
Arial Black
Calibri
Cambria
ComicSansMS
Consolas
Courier
CourierNew
Georgia
Lucida Console
Lucida Sans Unicode
Malgun Gothic
Marlett
Microsoft Sans Serif
MS Sans Serif
MS Serif
MS Gothic & MS UI Gothic
Segoe UI
Segoe UI
Symbol
System
Tahoma
Terminal
TimesNewRoman
TrebuchetMS

Just to be safe i would keep whatever nuhi recommends.
Click to expand...
Would this work similar with windows 10 and 11? I am probably thinking it would need some tweaks to the list. I have removed a few but from past experiences I remember going a bit too far and the operating system dumped.
 
Can also be apllied to boot.wim, see post no1. Someone did post what font/fonts are used during the setup phase but i cannot remember who where or what.
 
Clanger said:
Can also be apllied to boot.wim, see post no1. Someone did post what font/fonts are used during the setup phase but i cannot remember who where or what.
Click to expand...
Should have a list tonight as to what is needed for windows 11. Some people may not need the fonts I will be posting since some are used for different things(apps, resolutions) but want to ensure as much compatibility for others without having others say I broke there system.
 
Clanger said:
This list was originally compiled on Windows 7(en-us(us and gb only) iso with no language packs added) but could be used/modified for all later windows client(all editions) and server versions, just to be safe i would keep whatever else nuhi recommends.
Can also be applied to boot.wim - microsoft windows setup.

Code: 
CLANGERS-KEEP-FONTS-LIST-2022-03-30
Arial
Arial Black
Calibri
Cambria
ComicSansMS
Consolas
Courier
CourierNew
Georgia
Lucida Console
Lucida Sans Unicode
Malgun Gothic
Marlett
Microsoft Sans Serif
MS Sans Serif
MS Serif
MS Gothic & MS UI Gothic
Segoe UI
Segoe UI
Symbol
System
Tahoma
Terminal
TimesNewRoman
TrebuchetMS
Click to expand...
Safe for 90 percent of users to keep as additional add-on to windows 11

Inkfree
All microsoft fonts
All MS fonts
Wingdings
 
I don't understand this thread. Are we asking what are the default fonts, based on Windows release -- or the absolute minimum fonts?

1. Required fonts to install/run Windows are:

Segoe UISystem font
Segoe MDL2 Assets (W10/11 only)System UI icons (Settings, taskbar)
HoloLens MDL2 (required for W10/11 VR support)System UI icons
Local fonts (for non-Roman languages)​
JhengHei UI or YaHei UI (Chinese)
Malgun Gothic (Korean)
Yu Gothic UI (Japanese)
Segoe UI Historic or Segoe UI Symbol (EMEA)

2. NTLite further protects:

MarlettUI icons
TerminalCMD console's default font
Times RomanShell search support

3. The registry defines the order for font substitution, from best to worst match. Windows 10 Default System Fonts
>powershell -nop -ep bypass -C "(Get-ItemProperty """HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontLink\SystemLink""" -Name """Segoe UI""")."""Segoe UI""""

TAHOMA.TTF,Tahoma

MEIRYO.TTC,Meiryo UI,128,96
MEIRYO.TTC,Meiryo UI
MSGOTHIC.TTC,MS UI Gothic
MSJH.TTC,Microsoft JhengHei UI,128,96
MSJH.TTC,Microsoft JhengHei UI
MSYH.TTC,Microsoft YaHei UI,128,96
MSYH.TTC,Microsoft YaHei UI
MALGUN.TTF,Malgun Gothic,128,96
MALGUN.TTF,Malgun Gothic
MINGLIU.TTC,PMingLiU
SIMSUN.TTC,SimSun
GULIM.TTC,Gulim
YUGOTHM.TTC,Yu Gothic UI,128,96
YUGOTHM.TTC,Yu Gothic UI
SEGUISYM.TTF,Segoe UI Symbol
Click to expand...

UPDATE - WU kicked in, and now Start Menu/Settings doesn't work because Cortana (Search UI) is broken. But you get the general idea.
 

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garlin said:
I don't understand this thread. Are we asking what are the default fonts, based on Windows release -- or the absolute minimum fonts?

1. Required fonts to install/run Windows are:

Segoe UISystem font
Segoe MDL2 Assets (W10/11 only)System UI icons (Settings, taskbar)
HoloLens MDL2 (required for W10/11 VR support)System UI icons
Local fonts (for non-Roman languages)​
JhengHei UI or YaHei UI (Chinese)
Malgun Gothic (Korean)
Yu Gothic UI (Japanese)
Segoe UI Historic or Segoe UI Symbol (EMEA)

2. NTLite further protects:

MarlettUI icons
TerminalCMD console's default font
Times RomanShell search support

3. The registry defines the order for font substitution, from best to worst match. Windows 10 Default System Fonts

UPDATE - WU kicked in, and now Start Menu/Settings doesn't work because Cortana (Search UI) is broken. But you get the general idea.
Click to expand...
I would say for my font testing safe removal of fonts based on windows and not bare minimum.
 
garlin said:
I don't understand this thread. Are we asking what are the default fonts, based on Windows release -- or the absolute minimum fonts?
Click to expand...
Clanger said:
nLite(for XP) had an "Extra Fonts" option which i always used. Now we can select individual fonts so why not test and remove uneeded fonts?
Click to expand...
What are the "extra fonts" then? Just the same as every other component - "what can be removed?"
Not a full Minimum/Barebone list, something inbetween and equalling(hopefully at least) nLites "Extra Fonts".

Clanger said:
w7 Pro x64 C:\Windows\Fonts is 340MB, add another(estimated) 340mb for fonts in winsxs, thats 680MB(estimated).
Click to expand...
680MB of damn fonts???????
And they are fat, "relatively safe" to remove fat, just like 3rd party published drivers, unneeded keyboards and languages, leaving just the meat of the OS which is where the breakages are. A bit from here and a bit from there all adds up.
 
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Just ran across this thread looking through the Guide section. I didn't even think about stripping out fonts. From what I can tell in from the Windows 10 NTLite list, there are barely over 100 MB of fonts in Windows 10 22H2. I guess Windows 7 had a much larger repository. Anyway, I googled one of the fonts and I found this wonderful Microsoft page I'm surprised no one referenced that tells and shows you what eash one is. Font List Kept a couple of cool-looking foreign ones like New Tai Lu because they could be used for fun texting.

I'm spending more time playing with NTLite than playing video games, and I played 60 hours a week when I was in my 40s. At 55, I still do 24+ hour gaming sessions. Pathetic, I know.
 
i repeat
Clanger said:
they are fat, "relatively safe" to remove fat, just like 3rd party published drivers, unneeded keyboards and languages, leaving just the meat of the OS which is where the breakages are. A bit from here and a bit from there all adds up.
Click to expand...
 
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