Installing Windows fonts

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Some Linux users install the Microsoft Windows 'core' fonts on their machines. You do not need MS fonts to open Word documents in OpenOffice, but the formatting might be slightly off if you don't. Also, some web site authors (who do not completely follow W3C recomendations) specify only Windows fonts by name. You can still use this content, most programs deal with it by using the nearest avaliable, so the difference in text positioning is usually only a few pixels.


KDE users

In KDE 3.5 and below, this is very easy. Simply point konqueror to fonts:/// and you can drag-and-drop fonts from and to your system as you like.

GNOME users

In GNOME 2.4 and above, this is very easy. Simply open a file manager window to fonts:// and open another one to your mounted Windows directory (/mnt/windows for example). Navigate to the Windows folder, then the Fonts folder. Select any fonts that you would like and drag and drop them to the fonts:// window.

Note: This should be done as root otherwise it may not work. Also, try restarting your computer if it does not work.

Distribution packages

DEB

Package name is msttcorefonts, included in the Debian repository called non-free. These will download (or specify a location if you already have them) the fonts and install them. Just write

apt-get install msttcorefonts

SUSE

Package name is fetchmsttfonts, to install them open a console and enter:

yast -i fetchmsttfonts

See also