ARCHIVED: In Windows 3.1, how can I change the fonts used by the system?

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Font information for the Windows 3.1 graphical interface is stored in the file system.ini. This file is usually in C:\WINDOWS, and is a text file. You can edit it using Notepad.

In the "[Boot]" section of the system.ini file are several lines that specify the system fonts in use:

  oemfonts=<somefile>
  fixedfon.fon=<somefile>
  fonts.fon=<somefile>

Each instance above of <somefile> is the name of a Windows font file.

On a typical VGA system, these fonts should be:

  fonts.fon=vgasys.fon
  fixedfon.fon=vgafix.fon
  oemfonts.fon=vgaoem.fon

The following other sets of fonts may appear on these lines:

  egasys.fon       8514sys.fon
  egafix.fon       8514fix.fon
  egaoem.fon       8514oem.fon

You can only substitute fonts that have the .fon extension. The font sets that come with Windows are for dealing with different screen resolutions. The "8514" set, for instance, is used when the video system is set to 1024x768 pixels. Using the VGA fonts at this resolution will result in unreadable screen displays due to the lettering being too small.

It is possible to edit the system.ini file to install third party display fonts. However, if you are having trouble with the display fonts in Windows, it is far more likely that you should reinstall Windows rather than trying to modify your system.ini file.