Font Problem

[Guest]

I cannot install any .otf fonts in Windows XP Pro SP2 (fully patched). When I
try, I get the error message: "Unable to install the FONTNAME font. The font
file may be damaged. Check with your font vendor about obtaining a new file."
This font, and dozens of others, install without incident on other computers
in the same domain. Additionally, when I double click on a .otf font in the
Windows font folder, I get the error message: "The request file
C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\FONTNAME.otf was not a valid font file." Again, this does
not happen on other clients in the domain. .ttf fonts are not giving me any
problems. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[GHalleck]

I cannot install any .otf fonts in Windows XP Pro SP2 (fully patched). When I
try, I get the error message: "Unable to install the FONTNAME font. The font
file may be damaged. Check with your font vendor about obtaining a new file."
This font, and dozens of others, install without incident on other computers
in the same domain. Additionally, when I double click on a .otf font in the
Windows font folder, I get the error message: "The request file
C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\FONTNAME.otf was not a valid font file." Again, this does
not happen on other clients in the domain. .ttf fonts are not giving me any
problems. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

*.otf fonts probably need to be converted to *.ttf fonts before they
are recognized in Windows. Trying to copy Mac fonts to the PC? Look
here for more information:

http://www.asy.com/helpcf.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the suggestion doesn't help the problem.
As I explained in my original post, I run into no problems on other clients.
It is something unique to this machine and has nothing to do with Mac fonts.
Any other ideas? Thanks!

 

[GHalleck]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the suggestion doesn't help the problem.
As I explained in my original post, I run into no problems on other clients.
It is something unique to this machine and has nothing to do with Mac fonts.
Any other ideas? Thanks!

IIRC, *.otf fonts follow the tradition of the original Postscript
fonts by Adobe and popularized by Apple. The possibility does exist
that if this particular machine does not have any Adobe products
installed, viz., Acrobat or Type Manage, the conversion to a Windows
readable form, i.e., *.ttf or *.pfm, does not occur. I have not come
across this issue and the only reason I can think of is that I do
install Adobe ATM as a matter-of-course when setting up the basic
system (before installing working apps). If somebody else wishes to
chip in on this interesting question, please do.

 

[Guest]

Thanks again for the reply. In the interest of providing as much information
as possible, I do have Adobe Type Manager 4.1 installed (installed after the
problem started occurring), as well as Adobe CS3 Design Premium. I have found
others with the same problem in forums throughout the Internet, but no
solutions have been presented short of a complete reinstallation of Windows.
Thanks.

 

[Nightowl]

IIRC, *.otf fonts follow the tradition of the original Postscript
fonts by Adobe and popularized by Apple. The possibility does exist
that if this particular machine does not have any Adobe products
installed, viz., Acrobat or Type Manage, the conversion to a Windows
readable form, i.e., *.ttf or *.pfm, does not occur. I have not come
across this issue and the only reason I can think of is that I do
install Adobe ATM as a matter-of-course when setting up the basic
system (before installing working apps). If somebody else wishes to
chip in on this interesting question, please do.

GH, XP has native support for .otf fonts, as well as Postscript Type 1
and .ttf; they don't need any conversion (or for ATM to be installed
[unless you want to use it as an organiser, of course] .

HSA, how exactly are you installing the problem fonts (from a CD or via
a network)? Does it make any difference if you copy them to a folder on
the machine's C:\ drive first, then drag and drop them from there into
\Windows\Fonts?

If you go to Start | Run and type:
fontview filename.otf
do you get the same error message?

What about file associations on the misbehaving machine? If I go into
the File Types dialog, find OTF and click Advanced, then highlight Open
and click the Edit button, these are my computer's settings:

Action: open
Application used to perform action:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\fontview.exe %1
Use DDE: (checked)
DDE Message: (blank)
Application: fontview
DDE Application Not Running: (blank)
Topic: System

If your path in "Application used to perform action" above includes a
system variable, such as %SystemRoot%, try substituting an absolute path
like mine above.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head right now Please do
post back and let us know how it goes.

 

[Guest]

Nightowl, thank you very much for your response.

1) I have tried installing the fonts from a DVD, from a local folder, and
via the "Install New Font..." option in the Fonts folder from both locations.
All produce the same negative result.

2) Yes, when I run the fontview command from the command prompt, I get the
same error (.ttf files still open correctly using this method).

3) I have set and reset the file associations a few times. OTF matches TTF
exactly, and still prooduces the error. I am using the absolute path and all
of the settings you posted are exactly what mine look like.

Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Nightowl]

1) I have tried installing the fonts from a DVD, from a local folder, and
via the "Install New Font..." option in the Fonts folder from both locations.
All produce the same negative result.

2) Yes, when I run the fontview command from the command prompt, I get the
same error (.ttf files still open correctly using this method).

3) I have set and reset the file associations a few times. OTF matches TTF
exactly, and still prooduces the error. I am using the absolute path and all
of the settings you posted are exactly what mine look like.

Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!

This really is a puzzle. . . as you said, there are plenty of posts on
Google from people with the same problem, but no answers. . .

I looked in the Registry and the only thing I noticed was that, under
both:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\otffile\shell\open\command] and
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\otffile\shell\open\command]

the path *was* specified as %SystemRoot%\System32 etc. and so the value
has to be type REG_EXPAND_SZ. Might be worth checking this is correct on
the affected machine and not set to an ordinary string type? Or
comparing the reg entries for that machine with one that is happily
running .otf files?

Fontview.exe is obviously okay, since you can open .ttf's. . . the only
other thing I can think of is to try running an SFC /scannow and seeing
if that helps. Just out of interest, did you ever have ATM loaded on
this computer, particularly a version prior to 4.1?

Please do let us know how it goes. I would be very interested to know
the answer

 

[Guest]

Sorry for the delayed reply. All of the registry settings look correct (otf
compared to ttf on the same machine and otf on another, working machine). The
exact path is used in all cases. I haven't had a chance to run an SFC
/scannow, but I'm not optimistic that it will help. I don't recall ever
having installed an ATM version prior to 4.1, but as I posted earlier, I did
install 4.1 after I started having this problem. Any other thoughts?

 

[Nightowl]

Sorry for the delayed reply. All of the registry settings look correct (otf
compared to ttf on the same machine and otf on another, working machine). The
exact path is used in all cases. I haven't had a chance to run an SFC
/scannow, but I'm not optimistic that it will help. I don't recall ever
having installed an ATM version prior to 4.1, but as I posted earlier, I did
install 4.1 after I started having this problem. Any other thoughts?

Hi HSAIT

That's interesting about the paths: as I said, mine is set to use a
system variable (%SystemRoot%) and is an expandable string, but if your
working machines are using an absolute path, then that doesn't seem to
be the cause.

Reason I asked about old ATM versions was that I have read they've been
identified as causing problems later (even after being uninstalled) with
XP's native handling of Postscript fonts. . . just wondered if it might
possibly have some bearing on your problem.

I thought it might be worth trying an sfc /scannow just in case
something somewhere has got corrupted, but I agree it's a long shot.
Other than that I'm afraid I can't think of what else it could be: maybe
Microsoft or Adobe (or other font source, if your fonts aren't Adobe)
could help.

I really wish I could help more. Please do let us know if you find a
solution, and best of luck

 

[Guest]

Yea, this is quite a puzzler. I ran the sfc /scannow and it actually did
replace a lot of files (it took about 45 minutes to run). Unfortunately, the
font problem did not disappear. I will keep researching this and let everyone
know if I figure out it. If anyone can think of anything else, please do let
me know. Thanks!