"Installed" fonts not showing up in Windows Fonts folder

Anonymous
2018-07-23T12:31:42+00:00

Hi guys,

Unfortunately, none of the previous answers solves my problem.

I try to install fonts. According to Windows that also works but I cannot see the installed fonts in the Windows Fonts folder and neither do they show up in Illustrator. 

When I copy a font file into the Windows Fonts folder it says "The "xxxxxx" font is already installed. Do you want to replace it?" - I click yes, but still - the font does not show.

It's not a problem of the font file as it was working previously. Same happens to hundreds of other fonts. Says they are installed but they don't show and they are not selectable in other applications.

Thanks for your help!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-10-01T16:04:16+00:00

    I had the same problem, (in Windows 7)  and none of the suggestions I found here were helpful.

    Eventually I decided to close everything and reboot the computer. 

    Voila the font I had been trying to install was there and working properly.

    Hope this will help someone else who finds this thread.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-09-30T16:34:39+00:00

    Hi Everyone,

    Not sure if this was mentioned as I don't have time to go through every post. What worked for me...

    Copy/paste fonts to your (users) desktop - right click font file, and select - install for all users (basically install as admin).

    Option should be directly under regular Install, but with badge in front showing administrator. You may need to type in password, but I didn't have to.

    Hope that helps!

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-09-25T17:21:27+00:00

    I've been having the same problem as everyone, it's definitely a windows 10 problem because it's been plaguing both my personal laptop and my company's work stations.

    I've noticed one interesting thing, when you check the font settings using Window 10's Settings cog, and look at one of the font family with the problem, in my case AkzidenzGrotesk, it shows all the font types as Regular.  I'm wondering if this is what's confounding Photoshop and Illustrator, because if you look in the Fonts folder in Windows explorer, it seems to be fine:

    I tried to reinstall one of the font types with Photoshop open, and you can see it makes it twitch, but it looks related to this problem:

    Before:   After: 

    I checked an unaffected font family, Myriad Pro, and take a look at both it's Windows Explorer Font folder and the Window 10's settings cog window:

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-09-22T02:30:54+00:00

    Not sure if anyone's posted the underlying cause for this change in font installation behaviour, but I had to fix this in my environment and here's what I found:

    As of build 1809 (I think?) Microsoft changed the way fonts install in the OS - in order to allow non-admin-privilege users to install fonts, the default behaviour is to install a new font under the user profile and -- importantly -- add it to a new section of the registry. My suspicion is that most the application problems being posted on here is due the apps referencing the original 'all users' reg location for fonts. As previously posted, running the 'Install for all users' option fixes it, but that doesn't help if you're looking for a scripted solution.

    Long story short, I wrote a PowerShell script to install the fonts for all users for our OS Deployment Task Sequences in SCCM. It copies the fonts to the main C:\Windows\Fonts directory and creates the required registry entries to make the fonts appear for all users:

    <#

    .SYNOPSIS

        Installs fonts used for [Company Name] brand.

    .DESCRIPTION

        Installs [Company Name] fonts using new method/syntax required for Windows 10 1809 or greater.

        Error Log: C:\Temp\Install-CompanyFonts.log

    .NOTES

        Create a folder named Fonts in the same location as the script, and copied desired Open-Type or True-Type font files into this folder.

        Revision:

    #>

    $logfile = "C:\Temp\Install-CompanyFonts.log"

    Function Write-ToLog {

        Param (

            # Message text to be added to log file

            [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]

            [string]

            $Message

        )

        # Set timestamp

        $timestamp = Get-Date -Format u

        # Write log file entry

        "$($timestamp)  :  $Message" | Out-File $logfile -Append

    }

    #Timestamp log file entry

    #Write-Host "Time-stamping log file entry..." -ForegroundColor Yellow

    Write-ToLog "START"

    Set source files and destination

    $source = "$PSScriptRoot\Fonts"

    #Write-ToLog "Fonts to install: $($source | measure | select -ExpandProperty Count)"

    Set COM Shell object for obtaining file list and details

    $objShell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application

    $objFolder = $objShell.namespace($source)

    Copy each font to system font directory and create matching registry value

    foreach ($font in $objFolder.items()) {

        # Generate values needed for reg key

        $fontName = $($objFolder.getDetailsOf($font, 21))

        $fileType = $($objFolder.getDetailsOf($font, 2))

        $fontType = "(",$fileType.replace(' font file',''),")" -join ""

        $regKeyName = $fontName,$fontType -join ' '

        # Check that font isn't already installed and is a TrueType / OpenType font

        if (!(Test-Path "C:\Windows\Fonts$($font.Name)") -AND (($fileType -eq 'OpenType font file') -OR ($fileType -eq 'TrueType font file'))) {

            Try {

                Copy-Item -Path $font.Path -Destination "$env:windir\Fonts"

                New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts" -Name $regKeyName -Value "$($font.Name).otf" -PropertyType String -Force

                Write-ToLog "Installed font $($font.Name)"

            } Catch {

                Write-ToLog "Failed to install font $($font.Name)"

            }

        } Else {

            Write-ToLog "Failed to install font: $($font.Name)  |  File already exists or font is not OpenType/TrueType"

        }

    }

    Write-ToLog "FINISH"

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-09-17T18:43:49+00:00

    yes, it worked ! thanks very much

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