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I have been using Cleartype and Vista fonts on Windows XP for quite a while now. I love the Consolas font for working with source code. I would love to have it as the font of my Windows console (command) window too. Is there a way to do this?

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4 Answers 4

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  • Create a backup of the windows registry.

  • On regedit, navigate to

    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Console\TrueTypeFont

  • Right click on the right pane, select New -> String value.

  • Write 00 as the entry name.

  • Right click on the new entry, click on Modify.

  • Write the name of the desired font on the Value data field. That value should match one of the entries on HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

  • If you want to add additional fonts, repeat the previous steps, adding a 0 to the entry name each time (that is, the third entry should be 000 and so on).

  • Reboot your PC to apply the changes.

  • Open a console window, right click on the title bar, select Properties.

  • Select the Font tab. The new fonts should appear on the list.

Before doing any of this, please read the article "Why are console windows limited to Lucida Console and raster fonts?", which explains in great detail why you shouldn't do that anyway.

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    There's this Microsoft support article which adds a bit more detail about limitations too: support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q247815
    – Ant
    Jul 16, 2009 at 8:51
  • +1 for the link to that blog! A must-read indeed.
    – Arjan
    Jul 16, 2009 at 11:25
  • It is terrible that this works. Apr 25, 2012 at 14:57
  • Note that code page in Command Prompt limited the choice of font. Find active code page first by chcp. Then try using UTF-8 code page (PERMANENT change!) chcp 65001 to reveal the font in the list.
    – Ivan Chau
    Feb 9, 2014 at 9:15
  • (1) The link in Ant's comment is broken.  (2) On my Windows 7 system, I already have a 00 = Consolas value (I don't remember putting it there).  (Yes, I know, the question is about Windows XP.)  (3) This answer seems to be suggesting using 000, 0000, 00000, ..., if you're adding many entries.  While you probably shouldn't be adding a lot of fonts, a naming scheme of 000, 001, 002 would seem to be more extensible/sustainable. Aug 14, 2015 at 0:29
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This is a simple registry tweak.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Console\TrueTypeFont

Add a string value (REG_SZ) with the name 00 and put Consolas in the 'data' field.

You will then need to reboot your PC, and change the default within command prompt.

Start -> Run -> Cmd.

Right click the title of the window -> Properties -> Fonts.

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Use ConEmu. It is way superior to the "DOS box". It's better than Console too.

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Just for the instance. Another console terminal replacement: https://eugeny.github.io/terminus/ Based on the Electron supported from Windows 7 and higher. But neverless you can try to replace the Electron with the Windows XP version: https://discuss.atom.io/t/electron-windows-can-support-xp/29428

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