Windows File Explorer: Search Box Font Size changed

Above is a screenshot of the upper right corner of the Windows File Explorer. The font (the default Segoe UI) size is normal in all the other parts of the program, except for the typed in Search text box. I have checked that the components of Windows are correct with "dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth" and "sfc /scannow", I have reset the fonts to default in the options of the Windows Font Viewer, rebooted, etc., but something has suddenly changed this particular text box.

Anyone have ideas on what to do? I use Windows Search from this dialog box all the time.

See if changing system font or restoring default system font will help resolve the problem.

You can change the default Windows font from Segoe UI to anything you want. Here are the steps to change the default system font in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Thanks for the detailed instructions! I tried changing the default system font to "Trebuchet MS" with your command file. The default font did change, but the size of text in the search box remained very small, in fact I could not determine if it was "Trebuchet MS" or something else.

I have no idea why this problem arose. So what I shall do is to uninstall/reinstall both the NVidia and Intel graphics drivers. This problem might be a font rendering issue. Who knows, but it's worth 20 minutes to try it.

OK, so I uninstalled all video drivers in the Apps list, and then deleted the drivers in Device Manager, to ensure that Windows did install the "in-box" WHQL drivers.

Alas, the problem is still there. I did notice one interesting thing: after all the drivers have been deleted in the Device Manager, then the display reverted to extremely tiny character display, each character being only a few pixels high. On a 15.6" (diagonal) UHD+ display, that was *very* small and pretty much the size used in the File Explorer Search Box. So I suspect some kind of programming issue in a recent update to some component of the File Explorer. I will try to follow up on the Microsoft forums as well as this one.

Grateful for any more suggestions! I have reinstalled the Dell set of drivers (the in-box drrivers don't include the graphics card control panels. These work fine, but the original issue is still present.

See booting into Safe Mode have any change to it.

Will try that tomorrow.

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum and say that is one heck of laptap you've got there. Congrats. Your fully listed specs is much appreciated . A link to your Dell documentation is a cherry on top. Thank you.

Yes, I was very lucky when I bought it on eBay a few years ago: open-box, essentially new condition w/3 years of Dell's on-site support services should something go wrong (I subsequently extended that to the maximum period possible, since this laptop is going to be more than adequate for a long time, and repairs of any laptop are horrendously expensive...). When the price of 2TB SSDs became more reasonable I then put one in the empty 2nd NVME slot.

This XPS 15 model is slightly thinner and lighter than predecessors in the same series: all metal, but not quite the same massive machined metal solid durable feel as, for instance, the earlier 9560. Still good, but the race to ever thinner portability is getting out of hand.

I recommend this series, as it's a good compromise of screen size, portability, and performance for someone's principal computer, which is my case.

Yes, Safe Mode restores the correct font size in the Search Box. I am going to try uninstalling as many programs that add extensions (property sheets, etc.) and which I use infrequently, and see if that does something.

Are you aware of any File Explorer DLLs I can re-register safely?

First try changing font size maybe changing DPI scaling will help as well play around with those settings.


You can use ShellExView utility to disable third-party extensions.

OK, when I uninstalled Stardock "Start11" start menu enhancer (I'm an old Windows 7 fossil who can't stand the Windows 8/10/11 start menu), problem solved!

I will reinstall it and see if my problem was bitrot of my Windows 11 install, or an actual Start11 bug.

Thanks for the reminder about the ever-helpful Nirsoft utilities! (I did try adjusting text size in Settings yesterday, but no dice.

insertrealname said:

OK, when I uninstalled Stardock "Start11" start menu enhancer (I'm an old Windows 7 fossil who can't stand the Windows 8/10/11 start menu), problem solved!

I will reinstall it and see if my problem was bitrot of my Windows 11 install, or an actual Start11 bug.

Click to expand...

Happy to know problem resolved!

Reinstalling Start11 recreated the problem. Will report to Stardock, this may be a bug (although other programs might be the culprit on my machine).

Looked at alternatives: StartAllBack is excellent, does exactly what I need in bringing back a usable Start menu.

Know that this last update affected all the 3rd party apps that affect the GUI. Only install one that has recently been updated to accomodate the last windows update.