Usage of Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Fonts

[Harsh Agarwal]

So what i have observed that if i add a key and add a font path as value when windows is restarted or user logout and login then those font path are registered for usage and i am able to use those fonts. That too happen very fast.
When i tried to find any official documentation around this. I was not able to find it. So if someone can help me as i don't know that for the purpose i am using this key is right or not.

In case someone has another solution. Let me put my problem here.

Problem: As a font management solution, i want my fonts to be registered on OS but only to user scope and i want them to re-register very fast as soon as user logout and login. As i am registering font to user session only due to some licensing problem.
So i am facing 2 problems here:
1)- The initial register of fonts is very slow as windows does not provide any os api which takes font paths in batch and register them in one go so it is very slow to register one by one and it is observed that it take around 12-20 minutes for fonts in range 3k-4k.
2)- when i re-register them on user re-login it again take this much of time which creates many problem for user

 

[Neemobeer]

Well for starters you only need to register a font once. There is no reason to re-register them each login. If you want a font installed for a specific user then you have two preferred methods to installed (through Settings, or through the right click context method)

Settings

• Open Settings [windows key + i]
• Click on Personalization
• Click on Fonts
• Drag and drop your new font

Right Click

• Right click your font file
• Select Install

Both of these methods will install a font for the currently logged in user only

 

[Harsh Agarwal]

So the thing is that. want to do it programatically. and also the requirement is that font should be unregistered when user logs out. This is requirement of the font management solution.

 

[Neemobeer]

It's not clear what you mean by 'a font management solution'. Is this software you are running or some process and can you clarify on that? Also what do you mean by 'fonts in range 3k-4k'? Does this mean 3000-4000 fonts you want to install? If yes, then yes that is going to be a very slow process which leads me back to the why of you having to un-register them?

 

[Harsh Agarwal]

By font management solution, i mean a software that helps to manage your fonts. And By Range 3k-4k i mean that i want to install 3000-4000 fonts.
Why are they getting unregistered on user logout as the OS api that lets me register those fonts register them as session fonts.
I can't register them as system fonts as that will require admin access and i don't want the software to require admin access to work.

 

[Neemobeer]

Well if you insist on re-registering them every login you will be stuck with a delay as fonts are intended to be installed once. For user specific they should be in these two locations

File location
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts

Registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

 

[Antey25]

Well for starters you only need to register a font once. There is no reason to re-register them each login. If you want a font installed for a specific user then you have two preferred methods to installed (through Settings, or through the right click context method)

Settings

• Open Settings [windows key + i]
• Click on Personalization
• Click on Fonts
• Drag and drop your new font

Right Click

• Right click your font file
• Select Install

Both of these methods will install a font for the currently logged in user only

It seems like managing fonts in Windows can be tricky, especially when dealing with legacy software. I found that some software, particularly in fintech development, requires precise control over system fonts for proper UI display. For those who are building apps or tools that need to integrate smoothly with Windows, a lot of attention goes into this. If you're into fintech or related fields, you might want to check out this resource on fintech software development by Dashdevs— they have some helpful insights on how to handle such issues when developing fintech solutions for different platforms, including Windows. Definitely worth a look if you're navigating similar challenges.

 

[Josephur]

Consider using FontReg, a command line tool for interfacing the Windows Font system. While I do not like it's command line parameters and how they work the basic jist is:
copy the .ttf files you want to install to a folder along with fontreg.exe. Run fontreg /copy to copy those fonts and register them with the system for use.