How To Install Windows Fonts on Ubuntu

This article will guide you through the installation process of the Windows fonts on Ubuntu operating system. We’ll be installing packages with apt-get utility on the latest (at the moment of writing this article) available version of OS that is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS but the process is quite the same for the previous versions of Ubuntu.

What fonts are installed

Let’s find out what fonts are currently installed by typing fc-list in your terminal. In case the utility is not installed you can install it with fontconfig by typing

  1. sudo apt-get update - Pull the lates updates.
  2. sudo apt-get install fontconfig - Install fontconfig and font utilities including fc-list.

After you already have this utility installed type fc-list and check the output. I’m running Ubuntu in a docker container and here is the output:

$ fc-list

/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf: DejaVu Serif:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono.ttf: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Book
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf: DejaVu Sans:style=Book

(truncated)

Install Windows fonts

To install Windows fonts using apt-get utility open terminal and type:

  1. sudo apt-get update - Pull the lates updates.
  2. sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer - Install Windows fonts.
  3. sudo apt-get install fontconfig - Install fontconfig library and fc-cache utility.
  4. sudo fc-cache -f -v - Build fonts cache.

In case you recieve the following error:

Package ttf-mscorefonts-installer is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source

E: Package 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer' has no installation candidate

you can to add it from Linux Software Repository for Microsoft Products repository:

  1. sudo wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb
  2. sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
  3. sudo apt-get update
  4. sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer -y
  5. sudo apt-get install fontconfig - Install fontconfig library and fc-cache utility.
  6. sudo fc-cache -f -v - Build fonts cache.

Please note to replace version number of your OS from 22.04 to the one you have. To get OS version type hostnamectl | grep "Operating System". You can also check for the index in your browser to find the right file.

After installing fonts and building fonts cache we can check what fonts are actually installed by typing fc-list.

$ fc-list | grep "msttcorefonts"

/usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/comicbd.ttf: Comic Sans MS:style=Bold,Negreta,tučné,fed,Fett,Έντονα,Negrita,Lihavoitu,Gras,Félkövér,Grassetto,Vet,Halvfet,Pogrubiony,Negrito,Полужирный,Fet,Kalın,Krepko,Lodia
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/comic.ttf: Comic Sans MS:style=Regular,Normal,obyčejné,Standard,Κανονικά,Normaali,Normál,Normale,Standaard,Normalny,Обычный,Normálne,Navadno,Arrunta
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/Times_New_Roman.ttf: Times New Roman:style=Regular,Normal,obyčejné,Standard,Κανονικά,Normaali,Normál,Normale,Standaard,Normalny,Обычный,Normálne,Navadno,thường,Arrunta

(truncated)

In the output you’ll find that Comic Sans MS, Times New Roman, and other Windows fonts are installed now.