Problems in Windows 10 Creators Update with Fonts Installed via “Shortcut”!

[Dov Isaacs]

We have recently become aware of an anomaly that was introduced with the Windows 10 Creators Update affecting fonts that are installed via “shortcut.”

Most fonts are either installed by the operating system or applications directly into the C:\Windows\Fonts directory and users can install fonts into that directory by right-clicking on a font and selecting “Install.” However, Windows also offers the option to install a font but keeping the font file itself in some other location in the file system. This option is invoked by right-clicking on the font file and selecting the “Install as Shortcut” option. (Many of us use such “Shortcut” installation of fonts as a means of disciplined housekeeping for large numbers of fonts and font families!)

The anomaly is that after powering up / rebooting your system, fonts installed via “Shortcut” won't appear either in the Fonts Control Panel or in applications' font lists.

By simply rebooting your system, those installed by “Shortcut” fonts will reappear in the Fonts Control Panel and the applications' font lists. Thus, if you have any such installed by “Shortcut" fonts, you will always need to do a second boot of your computer system until Microsoft fixes this nasty bug. Alternatively, you can uninstall those particular fonts and reinstall them via the normal “Install” which places the font files themselves in the C:\Windows\Fonts directory.

Important Note — This anomaly does NOT appear to affect Typekit font synchronization in any way!

Microsoft is aware of the problem, but we have no ETA for a fix. (The July 11 Windows 10 update does not fix the problem!)

        - Dov Isaacs, Principal Scientist, Adobe Systems Incorporated

[Srishti Bali]

Hi Dov,

Thanks for sharing.

Regards

Srishti

[FG001]

Yup, I got also lured by the update's nagging motto "change is good" (sic) and finally let it install itself. Bad idea.

Unfortunately unistalling the Creators Update, thus falling back to my previous version, does NOT fix the problem of linked fonts disappearing randomly between successive reboots.

Change is good, working is better. Silly me.

K.

[Dov Isaacs]

We believe now that the update to the Creators Update improperly changes some file/directory extended internal access privileges. These are probably not reversed by uninstalling the Creators Update and thus, these symptoms are not rectified.

I have submitted a bug against Windows 10 on behalf of Adobe over this issue. It might take a bit for their bureaucracy to respond.

          - Dov

[betsys14997252]

Thank you Dov for posting about the problem.  Ever since I was forced to take this update, my Photoshop Elements 11, has not worked.  I can open files in the program but then I can't do anything with them - nothing works once you open a file.  Also, I have a subscription to Photoshop 2015 and I am having the same problem as everyone else is where my fonts are not working.

I called Microsoft and the technician told me that it was not a microsoft issue.  I hope it moves through that bureaucracy

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

Update on the Windows 10 Creators Update Linked Font Bug

On behalf of Adobe and its customers, I officially submitted a bug report to Microsoft with regards to this serious problem.

Working closely with one of their Senior Escalation Engineers in their Windows Support organization, Microsoft was readily able to reproduce the problem exactly as I represented it to them.

Good News – Microsoft now acknowledges that this is a bug and that it will be fixed. Apparently the bug was introduced as part of major changes associated with improved security in the boot process.

Bad News – The permanent fix for the bug will appear in the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update, the exact release date TBD. This fix isn't something that is readily exportable as a patch in one of the upcoming monthly updates.

Good News – There is a very reliable workaround, based on a single registry entry, which forces rebuild of the font cache at bootup. The side effect is slightly increased boot time, but if you have a reasonably robust hardware configuration (SSDs, fast processor, a good amount of memory, etc.), this increased boot time should not be that noticeable. (My systems are particularly well-endowed in terms of such resources and also have close to 2000 typefaces installed. I see no noticeable difference in boot times!)

I have attached two registry files. To avoid problems of “issues” with e-mail and other systems censoring .reg suffix file attachments, I have renamed them with a .rex file suffix. Change the file suffixes to .reg to be able to double-click and apply the registry changes. (You may need to extract these files from a .zip container first!)

Use file Temp_Fix_Windows_10_Creators_Update_LinkedFont_Bug.reg to install the temporary fix:

File Contents:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize]
"DisableFontBootCache"=dword:00000001

Obviously, you will need to reboot your system after having applied this registry change.

Use file Undo_Temp_Fix_Windows_10_Creators_Update_LinkedFont_Bug.reg to remove the temporary fix (you'll need to use this prior to installing the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update😞

File Contents:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize]
"DisableFontBootCache"=-

Microsoft offered a second workaround which I don't recommend –  deleting the font cache file as part of the logoff process. This effectively accomplishes the same thing with the same increased boot time, but quite frankly, if a system crashes or otherwise reboots without logoff, you can't count on this workaround since a logoff script won't be run.

I'll update this thread if and when I get further information from Microsoft confirming that the fix has been made, tested, and included in the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update (or if miraculously, an earlier fix is made available)!

      - Dov

[FG001]

Hey Dov,

Thanks for getting this through Microsoft all the way for us.

I cannot see the attachments anywhere, though. Is it just a question of copy/pasting into a text file and saving as a .reg file?

K.

[Dov Isaacs]

Assuming you are reading this thread directly at the forums, at the bottom of the message you will see the following:

Those are the attachments!

          - Dov

[Dov Isaacs]

October 29 , 2017
Update on the Windows 10 Creators Update Linked Font Bug

Having just installed the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update on three of my systems and having done multiple reboots and significant work in applications (Adobe and Microsoft) using fonts that installed via links, I am happy to announce that Microsoft has finally fixed this problem.

Assuming that you used the patch that I provided in this thread to temporarily mask the problem, you should now apply the registry patch with removes that temporary workaround. Download, unzip, and run the registry patch attached, file Undo_Temp_Fix_Windows_10_Creators_Update_LinkedFont_Bug.reg to remove the temporary fix (you should to use this prior to installing the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update, but there should be no harm if you run it after the update installs):

File Contents:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize]
"DisableFontBootCache"=-

If anyone is still having issues with this problem after installing the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update, please contact me via private message on these forums.

      - Dov

[Guest]

I had a problem with PSE12 this summer and was able (after a lot of searching to work around it by "checking both boxes regarding install settings" so PSE12 started working again for me. The initial problem was that I could not see any of the possible selections in PSE12's drop down menus. Recently, the same issue re-occurred. It is impossible to see or select any of the drop down menus options. I found my previous solution online, but I don't know for sure that it came from you - sorry. However, after reading your most recent post (29 October) I downloaded and ran your "Undo Temp Fix and ran it and restarted my PC. My PC screen looks the same so nothing major has disrupted me. However, I still can not see any of the PSE 12 drop down menus. Any suggestions. I need PSE12, but I am not particularly computer savvy enough perhaps? After all I started out punching cards in 1966! Thanks for any help -especially if it is "easy" to follow

[Dov Isaacs]

Your problem may have absolutely nothing to do with this particular font issue in Windows 10. Since this is an Illustrator forum, I would recommend you repost in the Photoshop Elements forums and someone there might recognize your issue and assist you better.

          - Dov

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply Dog. After I downloaded your fix to return the fonts to "normal", and after cycling my PC several times, now PSE is functioning properly

However, my PC seems to be running very slow. I noticed that issue in some of the posts about the font repair. When I downloaded your fix, could that have slowed me down permanently? Is there something else I should do now?

Pete

Sent from MailDroid

[Dov Isaacs]

The only thing that the “fix” does (and you should uninstall it when you update to the most recent Windows 10 version, version 1709, the Fall Creators Update) is to force Windows to rebuild its font cache every time you reboot. Once the boot process is fully done, within a few minutes at most (possibly a few seconds depending upon both your hardware and software configuration), there should be absolutely no performance degradation by the fix.

          - Dov

[j.pady]

Hi Dov. Thanks for the info. I recently (8/11/17) lost my menus in PSE9 (no text in Editor, garbled text in Organizer), but they're fine in PS CS5 and PRE9. I got the Creators update on 7/21/17. I've been scouring the forum for the fix, but no luck. Several posts suggested it was a Creators update / font issue. Could my broken menus be caused by this (and more importantly, fixed with the fall update)?

[Dov Isaacs]

Yes, this may be the problem. Try the fix I've posted. This temporary fix was provided by Microsoft and won't harm your system.

          - Dov

[swmarks]

Thank you very much, Mr. Isaacs. While I'm not an Adobe Illustrator customer, your registry edit has helped resolve major font rendering issues I was experiencing with AutoCAD 2016 LT.

Thanks a ton!

[keny62821140]

Thank you. A lot of people at Microsoft Community (including me) are struggling with this. Someone there pointed to here, and I, at least, am very happy with your explanation and fix.

[Betsy50]

I can't begin to tell you how helpful this was!!! To sit down and find the program no longer functional was devastating, but after a lengthy online search your response/solution loomed like a gift from heaven! In these days of gloom and doom, helpful, intelligent individuals seem hard to come by. You have restored my faith. Thank you!!!!

[Emilio Javier]

Thank you very much for this! I have been pulling my (little left) hair out for days, and right in the middle of a heavy job with lots of titles.

My system is already very slow to boot so I didn't really notice any difference in boot times. I ran  regedit manually and just added the DWORD value at the right place.

Now I hope Microsoft fixes this. I'm more than annoyed with the many times Microsoft takes over my time because it decides it's time to update, no matter if I am on a schedule, and after two or three hours updating the results are often bugs like this one.

[pacman110]

Solution worked. Thank you. Much appreciate that someone from Adobe has jumped in to tackle the problem and liaise with Microsoft. So often vendors leave users to flounder on their forums (so-called YOYO Support Mode, YOYO = You're On Your Own).

Temp_Fix_Windows_10_Creators_Update_LinkedFont_Bug.rex restored my menus on PSE11 running in Windows 10 x64 Build 15063.674.

• Downloaded Temp_Fix_Windows_10_Creators_Update_LinkedFont_Bug.rex from your link,
• unzipped it,
• Restored .rex to .reg,
• Backed up system to an image just in case anything should go wrong
• Ran Temp_Fix_Windows_10_Creators_Update_LinkedFont_Bug.reg
• Restarted Windows 10
• PSE11 menus are back  :-))

P.S: Curiously, under Help -> System Info PSE11 reports my system as Windows 8 64-bit. It is definitely Windows 10 64-bit. Makes me wonder what else is incorrect in that System Info listing.

[Dov Isaacs]

WRT to what Photoshop Elements 11 (I assume that is what you mean by PSE11) in terms of OS, that code was probably written and last tested prior to when Windows 10 came out and thus, anything beyond a certain Windows version was assumed to be Windows 8! 

          - Dov

[Guest]

I either miss-typed or your response here was to someone else. My problems have been with PSE 12 not PSE 11; and they began months ago after an earlier update to Windows 10 (probably that Creator's Edition that everyone else was talking about). Unfortunately, I think I set my Windows preference to update automatically when I let Microsoft install W-10 the first time. If this Fall version of Creator's Edition accommodates my original PSE 12 that I installed several years ago, I'll try to uninstall your fix that I got online last week. Thanks

Pete

[Wren777]

Hi Dov,

I am going around in circles! I need to use my fonts, being a very small business. Since the Creator update, I can't get my Word file to save as a pdf, which I urgently require so I can use Acrobat.

I am trying to use your wonderful fix, but I cannot open this rex file from the zip. Can't even seem to get a supposed rex file opener to do the job. It keeps coming up in the zip archive asking which app to use to open it.

Is there a step by step. I am not good with kind of thing, but have no other resources at All.

I can manually place the line of script if I know where to go.

If it's automatic, as with your rex file, I suppose I only need to open it, but with what program??

Thank you . Sorry to be an aggravation.

Renee

[Guest]

This worked well on my windows 10 machine.  I appreciate the support.  I am hoping that I don't run into trouble change the registry entry back when the next update is released.

[Dov Isaacs]

I did test the uninstall and it does work. The real question is whether Microsoft will deliver the fix in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update due mid-October.

I'll report back with my findings at that time!

          - Dov