An end-user-defined character (EUDC) is replaced by a character in the Chinese MingLiU_HKSCS font in a 2007 Office program or in an Office 2003 program in Windows Vista

End User Defined Character (EUDC) may not appear correctly in a 2007 Microsoft Office program or in a Microsoft Office 2003 program on Windows Vista. The EUDC is replaced by a character in the Traditional Chinese font MingLiU_HKSCS. Typically, MingLiU_HKSCS is included in Windows Vista.

Office programs prefer fonts linked by Office font linking to EUDC for PUA (Private Use Area) even if EUDC was registered. This behavior causes the problem.

Install the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 to work around this problem if you use 2007 Microsoft Office. The 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 fixes the problem to set fonts as expected for PUA (Private Use Area) by accessing the information from Windows.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

If you have to work around this problem without applying the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 or you use Office 2003, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: To work around this problem in all Office programs

If you do not use the Traditional Chinese font MingLiU_HKSCS, you can rename the font by using one of the following methods, depending on whether you are a home user or a system administrator.

Home users: Rename the font by using Windows Explorer

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
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   , type font in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2. Right-click the MingLiU & PMingLiU & MingLiU_HKSCS file, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, and then click Advanced.
4. Click the Owner tab, and then click Edit button.
   
   
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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
5. Click your user name in the Change owner list, and then click OK.
6. Click OK on the Windows Security screen, and then click OK again.
7. On the Security tab, click the Administrators group, and then click Edit.
   
   
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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
8. In the Allow column, click to select the Full control check box, and then click OK.
9. Click Yes on the Windows Security screen, and then click OK.
10. Restart the computer.
11. As the computer restarts, press the F8 key before the Windows Vista progress indicator appears.
12. In the Advanced Boot Options menu, use the arrow keys to select the Safe Mode and Command startup option, and then press ENTER.
13. Log on to Windows Vista by using an account that has administrator rights and permissions.
14. Click Start
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    , type cmd.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
15. Type the following commands at the command prompt. Press ENTER after you type each command.
    cd C:\Windows\Fonts
    ren mingliu.ttc mingliu.bak
    exit
16. Restart the computer.

System administrators: Rename the font by running a DOS batch file

To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the C drive, create a new folder that is named "Eudc."
2. Click Start
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   , type Notepad in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. In Notepad, enter the following code.

   @echo off
   cd /d %windir%\Fonts
   takeown /F mingliu.ttc /A
   icacls mingliu.ttc /grant Administrators:(F)
   ren mingliu.ttc mingliu.bak

4. On the File menu, click Save As, type C:\eudc\NameChange.bat in the File name box, and then click OK.
5. Click Start
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   , type Command Prompt in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
   
   
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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
6. Type the following commands at the command prompt. Press ENTER after you type each command:
   cd C:\eudc
   NameChange.bat
7. When the operation is successful, you receive the following messages:
   SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "C:\Windows\Fonts\mingliu.ttc" now owned by the administrators group.
   processed file: mingliu.ttc
   Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files
8. Restart the computer.

Notes

• The MingLiU & PMingLiU & MingLiU_HKSCS fonts are included in the Mingliu.ttc file. After you rename Mingliu.ttc, you cannot use these fonts.
• To use the Unicode character range from E76C to E864 for EUDC, follow these steps for the Simsun.ttc file. The Simsun.ttc file includes the SimSun font and the NsimSun font.

Method 2: To work around this problem in specific Office programs

Word 2007

Select the character that you want to display in EUDC instead of Chinese font, and then click to select the Japanese font on the Font menu.

Note You cannot work around the problem in Word 2003 by using this method. The problem only occurs in new Word 2003 documents.

Excel 2007 and Access 2007

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this problem in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and in Microsoft Office Access 2007, add the following registry entry. This entry disables the Office font linking function. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
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   , type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
   
   
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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\General
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
4. Type DisableFontLinking, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6. Type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor.

Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003, and Access 2003

To work around this problem in Excel 2003, in PowerPoint 2003, and in Access 2003, add the following registry entry. This entry disables the Office font linking function. To do this, follow these steps.

1. Click Start
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   , type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
   
   
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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
4. Type DisableFontLinking, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6. Type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor.

Note This method does not apply to the formatting of text inside a text box in any versions of Excel .

The problem occurs in all code points of the Private Use Area (PUA) E000 to F848 in Windows Vista. Because Traditional Chinese font MingLiU_HKSCS that is included in Windows Vista contains characters that are mapped to E000 to F848. Notes

• The problem occurs in all code points of the Private Use Area (PUA) E000 to F848 in Windows Vista. Because Traditional Chinese font MingLiU_HKSCS that is included in Windows Vista contains characters that are mapped to E000 to F848.
• When a character that is mapped to the code point in the PUA cannot be found in the current font, an Office program uses Traditional Chinese fonts to generate a character to map to the code point in the PUA.
• When a character that is mapped to the code point cannot be found in the current font or in Traditional Chinese fonts, an Office program uses Simplified Chinese fonts to generate a character to map to the code point in the PUA.
• The EUDC is displayed as expected if a character that is mapped to the code point cannot be found in Traditional Chinese fonts or in Simplified Chinese fonts.
• The Japanese language uses the Unicode character range from E000 to E757 for Private Use Area. This range overlaps the following ranges:
  • The range for Traditional Chinese Private Use Area (PUA E000 to F848)
  • The range for Simplified Chinese Private Use Area (PUA E000 to EDE7)

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.