Solved Font files in SharedDLLs registry folder


cbreemer

cbreemer

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I was looking for font files in my registry, and to my amazement I found a bunch in the Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
branch, see screenshot. Isn't that weird? What the h*ck are these doing there, and how did they even sneak in behind my back? Would there be any purpose in this, and/or would it be harmful if I just delete this bunch of keys? I know there's probably no harm in them sitting there, but I like to keep things tidy.


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It isn't true that they're not supposed to be there. When you install some application with Windows Installer (.msi), the app is usually broken up into chunks called Components. Each component has a KeyPath, which is the thing used by Windows Installer to determine if the component is installed. This could be a file, a registry value, an ODBC connection, etc. If the KeyPath for any given component is a font, it gets registered in SharedDLLs.
 

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cbreemer said:
I was looking for font files in my registry, and to my amazement I found a bunch in the Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
branch, see screenshot. Isn't that weird? What the h*ck are these doing there, and how did they even sneak in behind my back? Would there be any purpose in this, and/or would it be harmful if I just delete this bunch of keys? I know there's probably no harm in them sitting there, but I like to keep things tidy.


View attachment 124930
Click to expand...
The Registry is made up of 5 Hives, text files, that Windows uses to determine how to run itself and installed programs. As text they don't take up much room. Uninstalling things like Fonts and programs can leave behind entries in the Registry which usually causes no problem but if one is 'tidy' they can run a Registry cleaner butt do be aware that if a wrong choice is made it can be as bad as having to reinstall Windows and all programs.
 

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Here's the virtualized portion of the registry for the Office 365 Click-to-Run package. It's not part of the regular SharedDLLs key, because it's a private area specifically for that app, but you can see it's not uncommon for things other than DLLs to be present. The name "SharedDLLs" is an unfortunate artifact from older Windows clients.

View attachment 124937
 

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cbreemer said:
Isn't that weird?
Click to expand...
No, it isn't. Virtually kind of shared resource can be registered by applications under SharedDLLs with their reference count. The key name suggests it was originally intended for DLLs, but it quickly became clear that the same reference-counted sharing logic is needed for all kinds of files (and other resources) as well. The key name (SharedDLLs) gradually became a misnomer.

Acrobat Reader, for one example, registers character mappings (.txt files) there. Registering shared font files makes perfect sense as well, assuming some app does not want to leave them behind when uninstalled.
 

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Thanks all for the helpful replies! All is clear now. I did not know that SharedDLLs was used for general uninstall purposes. Now I wonder what installation may have sprang this motley collection of fonts unto me. Perhaps LibreOffice which I installed quite recently. But then that should probably have been in a dedicated registry branch? Ah, the registry is like a public toilet....
 

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pseymour said:
Actually, yes, LibreOffice does do this, or at least they did in 2020.

Click to expand...
Ha, that mystery solved then, thanks. That is definitely how I got them. For better or worse, I already deleted them from the registry. Now I wonder what will happen when I want to uninstall LibreOffice one day. Ah well, cross that bridge when I come to it 😁

Thanks again, I'll mark it resolved now.
 

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Pretty much any program that uses typed characters can add to installed Fonts and the Registry. Programs can be written to use only Windows default Fonts. Back with Windows 3.x we had to install a Font Manager to get more than what Windows included, more than what DOS had. It was all about the GUI/Graphical User Interface or WYSIWYG/What You See Is What You Get.
 

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Berton said:
Pretty much any program that uses typed characters can add to installed Fonts and the Registry. Programs can be written to use only Windows default Fonts. Back with Windows 3.x we had to install a Font Manager to get more than what Windows included, more than what DOS had. It was all about the GUI/Graphical User Interface or WYSIWYG/What You See Is What You Get.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I get that. Still, LibreOffice could have asked me nicely "Do you want me to install dozens of exotic fonts you'll probably never use?" 🤪
 

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The Win11 Notebook I'm on now has LibreOffice, Expression Web and WordPerfect. The Fonts folder in C:\Windows contains 771 files and is only 445MB in size. Many of the Fonts are for different languages, not just English. The 3 programs can use any of the Fonts. I'm running only the RTM/fully released version of Windows, 24H2 Build 26100.3037, not an Insider Preview version.
 

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cbreemer said:
Now I wonder what will happen when I want to uninstall LibreOffice one day.
Click to expand...
I do not believe the fonts would be uninstalled when Libre is uninstalled, not even if you used an uninstaller app like Revo. Most times,the user can safely uninstall fonts from control panel/fonts/3 dots. I uninstalled a ton of foreign language fonts. In turn, I have also installed several non-MS fonts that I much prefer to use.
 

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glasskuter said:
I do not believe the fonts would be uninstalled when Libre is uninstalled, not even if you used an uninstaller app like Revo. Most times,the user can safely uninstall fonts from control panel/fonts/3 dots. I uninstalled a ton of foreign language fonts. In turn, I have also installed several non-MS fonts that I much prefer to use.
Click to expand...
Well... If I understood correctly, LibreOffice put them there, allegedly to be able to remove them during uninstall. So when one day I decide to uninstall LibreOffice, I expect it to try and remove these fonts. There just might be an issue there, as they no longer exist. But I'm not too worried about it.
 

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I actually tried it. LibreOffice does make these registry entries. I deleted them from the registry, and I had no issue removing LibreOffice.
 

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pseymour said:
I actually tried it. LibreOffice does make these registry entries. I deleted them from the registry, and I had no issue removing LibreOffice.
Click to expand...
That is good to know. Thanks for checking it out, I appreciate the help.
 

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Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 (OS Build 22621.3155)
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Manufacturer/Model
Intel NUC12WSHi7
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Intel Core i7-1260P
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Intel NUC12WSHi7
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