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Q219298: Fonts Display Incorrectly if More than 48 MB of Fonts Exists

Article: Q219298
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): winnt:4.0,4.0 SP1,4.0 SP2,4.0 SP3,4.0 SP4
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbWinNT400sp5fix
Last Modified: 16-MAY-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 4.0, 4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2, 4.0 SP3, 4.0 SP4 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 4.0, 4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2, 4.0 SP3, 4.0 SP4 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition versions 4.0, 4.0 SP4 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you run any program that includes True Type fonts (for example, Windows NT
shell, Microsoft Office, Microsoft WordPad, and so forth), you may experience
the following symptoms:

- Fonts are displayed incorrectly.

- Unknown characters are displayed.

- Blank space are displayed.

This article does not apply to printer fonts. Printer font output is not impacted
by the 48 MB limit.

CAUSE
=====

This behavior occurs because there is a 48 MB memory limit for fonts on a
computer running Windows NT 4.0. After a computer running Windows NT reaches the
48 MB font limit, that session's fonts are displayed incorrectly as there is no
room available to load and map fonts.

RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0. For
additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

  Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack


STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0. This problem was
first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5.

MORE INFORMATION
================

For example, a computer running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 with Office 2000
installed has approximately 20 MB of total fonts. If you enable the Japanese (8
MB), Korean (15 MB), and Chinese (8 MB) language settings, you reach
approximately 51 MB of total fonts.

The 48 MB limit is easily reached on a computer running Windows NT 4.0 Service
Pack 4 with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Office 2000 without enabling fonts
for other languages. You can reach this limit by browsing Web pages. IE5
automatically installs fonts not currently loaded.

Simply deleting True Type fonts to an amount lower than the 48 MB limit may not
resolve the issue.

You can view the fonts loaded on your computer by using the Control Panel Fonts
tool. You can view the size of each font by opening a command prompt and going
to the \%SystemRoot%\Font folder and typing DIR. If the size of the
\%SystemRoot%\Font folder is equal to or greater than 48 MB, you may experience
this issue.

Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 increases the font limit to 128 MB.


Additional query words: blank spaces chinese strange characters word wordpad IE5 IE5.0 Office 97 2000 Office97 Office2000 TrueType

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Keywords          : kbWinNT400sp5fix 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT400search kbWinNTW400sp4 kbWinNTW400sp3 kbWinNTW400sp2 kbWinNTW400sp1 kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTSEntSearch kbWinNTSEnt400sp4 kbWinNTSEnt400 kbWinNTS400sp4 kbWinNTS400sp3 kbWinNTS400sp2 kbWinNTS400sp1 kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400
Version           : winnt:4.0,4.0 SP1,4.0 SP2,4.0 SP3,4.0 SP4
Hardware          : ALPHA x86
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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