# Does anyone know the fonts for Windows error messages?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-the-fonts-for-windows-error-messages/817077>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 1, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-the-fonts-for-windows-error-messages/817077 "2018-07-01T00:53:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-the-fonts-for-windows-error-messages/817077/1 "2018-07-01T00:53:21Z")

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I would like to make a humorous (to me, anyway) fake error message. Getting the fonts right would be cool.

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**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-the-fonts-for-windows-error-messages/817077/2 "2018-07-01T01:00:22Z")

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Depends on the error/Windows version, but Segoe UI is the font for the typical dialogue box on Win7/10.

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**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-the-fonts-for-windows-error-messages/817077/3 "2018-07-01T10:14:49Z")

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Older versions of Windows will dump you into text mode to display serious errors (the so-called “blue screen of death”). The font used for that depends on your video card, but almost all of them copy IBM’s original 9×16 bitmap font (“VGA9”) from its PS/2 VGA controller. You can download a TrueType version of it as part of the [Ultimate Old School PC Font Pack](https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/).

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**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-the-fonts-for-windows-error-messages/817077/4 "2018-07-01T22:20:14Z")

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Thanks!