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Install Microsoft Windows Fonts In Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

By sk
Published: Last Updated on 39.6K views

Most of the educational institutions are still using Microsoft Fonts. I am not sure about other countries. But in Tamilnadu (India), Times New Roman and Arial fonts are still being widely used by almost all sorts of documentation works, projects, and assignments in colleges and schools. Not only the educational institutions, most government and private offices, small organizations, and shops are still using MS Windows Fonts. Just in case, if you are in a situation where you need to use Windows fonts, here is how to install Microsoft Windows fonts in Ubuntu Linux desktops.

Disclaimer: Microsoft has released its core fonts for free. However, Please be aware that usage of Microsoft fonts is prohibited in other operating systems. Read the EULA carefully before installing MS Fonts in any Linux operating system. We (OSTechNix) are not responsible for any kind of piracy act.

Install Microsoft fonts in Ubuntu 18.04 and 16.04 LTS desktops

Install MS TrueType Fonts as shown below:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Microsoft's End user agreement wizard will appear. Click OK to continue.

License agreement
License agreement

Click Yes to accept the Microsoft agreement:

Accept Microsoft license agreement
Accept Microsoft license agreement

After installing the fonts, we need to update the font cache using command:

$ sudo fc-cache -f -v

Sample output:

/usr/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 6 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 4 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings/large: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc: caching, new cache contents: 89 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/util: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cMap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 5 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap/adobe-cns1: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap/adobe-gb1: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap/adobe-japan1: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap/adobe-japan2: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap/adobe-korea1: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/malayalam: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/noto: caching, new cache contents: 24 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 46 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Gargi: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Gubbi: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Nakula: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Navilu: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Sahadeva: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Sarai: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/abyssinica: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/droid: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-beng-extra: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-deva-extra: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-gujr-extra: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-guru-extra: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-kalapi: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-orya-extra: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-telu-extra: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/kacst: caching, new cache contents: 15 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/kacst-one: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lao: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation: caching, new cache contents: 16 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation2: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-assamese: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-bengali: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-devanagari: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-gujarati: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-kannada: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-malayalam: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-oriya: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-punjabi: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-tamil: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-tamil-classical: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/lohit-telugu: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/malayalam: caching, new cache contents: 11 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts: caching, new cache contents: 60 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/noto: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/padauk: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/pagul: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/samyak: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/samyak-fonts: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/sinhala: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/tibetan-machine: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/tlwg: caching, new cache contents: 58 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-khmeros-core: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ubuntu: caching, new cache contents: 13 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/type1: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts: caching, new cache contents: 35 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/local/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/home/sk/.local/share/fonts: skipping, no such directory
/home/sk/.fonts: skipping, no such directory
/var/cache/fontconfig: cleaning cache directory
/home/sk/.cache/fontconfig: cleaning cache directory
/home/sk/.fontconfig: not cleaning non-existent cache directory
fc-cache: succeeded

Install Microsoft windows fonts in dual boot with Linux and Windows

If you have dual boot system with Linux and Windows operating system, you can easily install the MS fonts from Windows C drive. All you have to do is mount the Windows partition (C:/Windows).

I assume you have mounted the C:\Windows partition at /Windowsdrive directory in Linux.

Now, link the fonts location to your Linux system's fonts folder as shown below.

ln -s /Windowsdrive/Windows/Fonts /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts

After linking the fonts folder, regenerate the fontconfig cache using command:

fc-cache

Alternatively, copy all Windows fonts to /usr/share/fonts directory and install the fonts using the following commands:

mkdir /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts
cp /Windowsdrive/Windows/Fonts/* /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts
chmod 755 /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts/*

Finally, regenerate the fontconfig cache using command:

fc-cache

Test and use windows fonts in Ubuntu

Open LibreOffice or GIMP after installing MS Fonts. Now, you will see there the Microsoft coretype fonts.

Use windows fonts in Ubuntu
Use Microsoft windows fonts in Ubuntu

That's it. Hope this guide useful.

Update 1:

Mscorefonts comes preinstalled in Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS desktop. So, I guess the latest Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop users need not to install it.

Update 2:

If you accidentally rejected license agreement during upgrade from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 18.04.3 LTS,  you can reinstall the installer to get the license agreement by running the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Thanks Arno77.

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34 comments

XFCE 4 Laif February 16, 2019 - 11:24 am

Thank you, worked perfectly.

What theme are you using on your terminal?

Reply
sk February 16, 2019 - 12:22 pm

My pleasure. It is Deepin Terminal. I use Deepin DE on Arch Linux.

Reply
Sukree Kaeomanee September 16, 2019 - 1:31 pm

I use Libre Office Version: 6.0.7.3
Build ID: 1:6.0.7-0ubuntu0.18.04.9
I tried those command but could not have the Times New Roman in there.

Reply
sk September 16, 2019 - 3:05 pm

Mscorefonts comes preinstalled in Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS desktop. So, the latest Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop users need to install it. Which Ubuntu version are you using?

Reply
Anon October 5, 2019 - 5:48 am

Thanks a lot!

Reply
Arno77 January 7, 2020 - 5:32 pm

Great. Thanks.

Accidentally rejected license agreement during upgrade from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 18.04.3 LTS. So had to install the fonts manually after upgrade was finished.

In that case you need to reinstall the installer to get the license agreement running:
sudo apt-get install –reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer
(Found this info in )

Did not need to update the font cache.

Reply
sk January 7, 2020 - 6:24 pm

Thanks for the tip. I updated the guide with your input.

Reply
praveen April 16, 2020 - 9:34 pm

it works! thank you very much…

Reply
Azka Hariz May 29, 2020 - 4:51 pm

Thanks for sharing. I use an alternative procedure. However, some fonts cannot be copied to Ubuntu. At the terminal the message “cp: cannot stat ‘/media/MyComputer/OS/Windows/Fonts/vgaf874.fon’: Input / output error”. There are many messages displayed like this. Could you explain to me why that happened? Thanks for your answer.

Reply
Randy May 31, 2022 - 9:13 pm

At our college, Times New Roman and Arial fonts are used in all documents. Thanks for the advice on Ubuntu.

Reply
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