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I'm using Windows 10 x64 Pro and I'm unable to preview or install fonts.

When I try to preview a font (double click or Right Click >> Preview), I get an error message that reads "The requested file <font file> is not a valid font file" as shown in the screenshot below:

enter image description here

When I try to install a font (Right Click >> Install), another error that reads "The file <font file> does not appear to be a valid font" is shown (screenshot below):

enter image description here

Things I've checked:

  • I have UAC enabled in my registry but set to lowest setting "Never Notify". I thought UAC had something to do with this, but the behavior is the same whether or not EnableLUA is set to 0 or 1 in registry.
  • I have checked the Event Viewer (Application and System sections) for hints to the problem, but this error is not reported at all in the logs from what I see. This seems strange.

Why can't I install fonts on Windows 10? I verified the behavior with several downloaded otf and ttf font files. So I'm fairly certain the files are not corrupted.

EDIT

When I go to the Fonts section of Control Panel, I do not see an "Install Font" option in the "File" menu, as shown in the screenshot below.

enter image description here

void.pointer
  • 1,907

2 Answers2

159

After a week of trying everything. The answer as weird as it sounds is to enable the windows firewall. I know, makes no sense right? It's not connected to font settings, however once "On" I was able to fix my issue with installing fonts on windows 10 and without an error message!

DavidPostill
  • 162,382
Geremy V
  • 1,224
7

I met this problem as well through my git repositories hosting font files. Here's a weird solution that worked for me. Copy (and yes its Ctrl + C not Ctrl + X for cutting) the file somewhere else or even in the same directory and the copied file will work.

Also the top solution does not work for me. My firewall is already activated.

Further digging showed that copying did not change any of the file contents. Both are the same, I ran sha1sum on both files, and their hashes matched.

Later checking the security properties on the original font file, Windows popped up with "The permissions on X.ttf are incorrectly ordered, which may cause some entries to be ineffective.". So it looks like my git cloning of the repository is causing some messed up permissions to be set upon placing the font file in Windows. In that case, it does have some relation to the security and permissions system on Windows. That just means the error that font viewer application is giving back is very badly worded.

CMCDragonkai
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