How to use Microsoft’s Bahnschrift font as the default in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Microsoft’s WIndows 10 typically uses the Segoe font, introduced as part of the metro design language which made its debut in Windows phone 7 and Windows 8 on the desktop. With the Windows 10 Creators Fall Update, Microsoft is releasing a new font for Windows –Bahnschrift– an adaptable font which looks slightly more modern than Segoe.

Bahnschrift is our own rendition of the DIN font standard. Apart from being the standard road sign font in Germany and much of Europe, DIN is frequently used by graphic designers for its high legibility and clean, hard-working design style. Bahnschrift supports a smooth spectrum of weights from Light to Bold, as you can see in the above image. In this image, each letter is a slightly different weight than its neighbours. All these weights are “duplexed” – meaning they do not change in width when you change weight. You can switch from Light to Bold without changing the layout at all.”

While Redmond is probably not replacing Segoe with Bahnschrift anytime soon, if you’re running the Fall Creator’s Update, you can swap out Segoe UI for Bahnschrift with the following steps.

How to use Microsoft’s Bahnschrift font as the default in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
“Segoe UI (TrueType)”=””
“Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)”=””
“Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)”=””
“Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)”=””
“Segoe UI Light (TrueType)”=””
“Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)”=””
“Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)”=””

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

“Segoe UI”=”Bahnschrift”

1. Using Notepad, copy and paste the above text into a new text file.
2. Choose “Save as” and save your new file with a “.reg” file extension. Name it Bahnschrift font file, or whatever you please.
3. Double click the new file to modify your registry and accept all prompts
4. Restart your computer.

You should note that this tip works for modifying any and all types of fonts on WIndows, so you could set your Windows font to ComicSans MS for instance, or to Times New Roman if you so prefer. Just modify the registry file to include the font title of your choice. You can view the full list of installed fonts in Control Panel > Fonts.

To revert this change: Simply enter the copy and paste the below text into Notepad as before, and then repeat steps 2-4 with this new file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
“Segoe UI (TrueType)”=”segoeui.ttf”
“Segoe UI Black (TrueType)”=”seguibl.ttf”
“Segoe UI Black Italic (TrueType)”=”seguibli.ttf”
“Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)”=”segoeuib.ttf”
“Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)”=”segoeuiz.ttf”
“Segoe UI Emoji (TrueType)”=”seguiemj.ttf”
“Segoe UI Historic (TrueType)”=”seguihis.ttf”
“Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)”=”segoeuii.ttf”
“Segoe UI Light (TrueType)”=”segoeuil.ttf”
“Segoe UI Light Italic (TrueType)”=”seguili.ttf”
“Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)”=”seguisb.ttf”
“Segoe UI Semibold Italic (TrueType)”=”seguisbi.ttf”
“Segoe UI Semilight (TrueType)”=”segoeuisl.ttf”
“Segoe UI Semilight Italic (TrueType)”=”seguisli.ttf”
“Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)”=”seguisym.ttf”
“Segoe MDL2 Assets (TrueType)”=”segmdl2.ttf”
“Segoe Print (TrueType)”=”segoepr.ttf”
“Segoe Print Bold (TrueType)”=”segoeprb.ttf”
“Segoe Script (TrueType)”=”segoesc.ttf”
“Segoe Script Bold (TrueType)”=”segoescb.ttf”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

“Segoe UI”=-

Alternatively, create a system restore point prior to changing the registry, and then restore back to that when done.