FontSharpener

A PowerShell tool for configuring Windows DPI scaling and font smoothing settings to improve text clarity.

Languages: English (this page) | Русский | Deutsch

Overview

FontSharpener modifies Windows registry settings related to DPI scaling and font smoothing. It is designed for users who experience blurry or poorly scaled fonts on high-DPI displays or after certain Windows updates.

Scope: Current user only (HKCU registry hive). No system-wide changes, no services installed.

Safety: Dual backup strategy (JSON files + registry underscore copies), dry-run mode, automatic elevation, idempotent operations.

Quick Start

# Preview changes (no modifications)
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -DryRun

# Apply 100% scaling (default)
.\FontSharpener.ps1

# Apply 125% scaling without prompts
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -ScalingPercent 125 -Force

# List all available backups
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -ListBackups

# Restore from a specific backup
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -Restore "C:\Users\YourName\Documents\FontSharpener-Backups\FontSharpener-backup-20250115-143022.json" -Force

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+
• Administrator rights (script will auto-elevate if needed)

Installation

1. Download FontSharpener.ps1 from the latest release
2. Save to a directory of your choice
3. Run PowerShell as Administrator (or let the script auto-elevate)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
-ScalingPercent	int	100	Target DPI scaling: 100, 125, 150, or 175
-DryRun	switch	-	Preview changes without applying
-BackupPath	string	Documents\FontSharpener-Backups\	Custom backup directory or file
-Restore	string	-	Path to JSON backup file to restore from
-Force	switch	-	Skip confirmation prompts
-ListBackups	switch	-	Show all available backups and exit
-Verbose	switch	-	Show detailed operation output
-WhatIf	switch	-	Standard PowerShell what-if mode

Registry Keys Modified

All changes are made under HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop:

Key	Value	Description
DpiScalingVer	0x00001000 (4096)	DPI scaling state flag
Win8DpiScaling	0x00000001 (1)	Enable Windows 8-style DPI scaling
LogPixels	96/120/144/168	DPI value based on -ScalingPercent
FontSmoothing	0x00000001 (1)	Enable ClearType font smoothing

Backup and Restore

Automatic Backups

Before any change, the script creates:

1. JSON backup file (default location: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\FontSharpener-Backups\)

   {
     "SchemaVersion": 2,
     "Created": "2025-01-15T14:30:22",
     "ToolVersion": "2.0.0",
     "ScalingPercent": 100,
     "Values": {
       "DpiScalingVer": 4096,
       "Win8DpiScaling": 1,
       "LogPixels": 96,
       "FontSmoothing": 1
     }
   }

2. Registry underscore copies in the same registry location:

   • DpiScalingVer → DpiScalingVer_
   • Win8DpiScaling → Win8DpiScaling_
   • LogPixels → LogPixels_
   • FontSmoothing → FontSmoothing_

Manual Restore

# List available backups
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -ListBackups

# Restore from specific backup
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -Restore "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\FontSharpener-Backups\FontSharpener-backup-20250115-143022.json"

Or manually via PowerShell:

$regPath = 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop'
$keys = 'DpiScalingVer', 'Win8DpiScaling', 'LogPixels', 'FontSmoothing'
foreach ($k in $keys) {
    $bk = Get-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "${k}_" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($bk) {
        Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $k -Value $bk."${k}_"
    }
}

Language Versions

This documentation is available in multiple languages:

• English (this file)
• Русский
• Deutsch

Troubleshooting

"Running scripts is disabled on this system"

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -Force

"Access is denied" or changes don't apply

Ensure PowerShell is running as Administrator. The script will attempt auto-elevation, but manual elevation may be required in some environments.

Fonts look worse after applying

Restore from backup:

.\FontSharpener.ps1 -ListBackups
.\FontSharpener.ps1 -Restore "<path-to-backup>" -Force

Or sign out and back in — some changes require session restart.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Security

See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting and security policy.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE file.

Changelog

2.0.0 (2026-01-15)

• Unified version combining Set-DpiScaling.ps1 and PR #1 features
• Added -ScalingPercent parameter (100/125/150/175)
• Added -DryRun, -Force, -ListBackups parameters
• JSON backup format with schema version
• Automatic elevation support
• Full PSScriptAnalyzer compliance
• Multilingual documentation

1.0.0 (2025-06-04)

• Initial release as Set-DpiScaling.ps1
• Basic registry modification with underscore backups