A font installed by right-click lands in one profile only, so every other account and half your apps never see it. The all-user route is a registry entry next to the file.
Copy the file into **C:\Windows\Fonts** and add a value under **HKLM\...\CurrentVersion\Fonts**. Right-click install only writes to **%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts** for the current account.
Per-user fonts live under **LocalAppData** and are invisible to other accounts; system fonts live in **C:\Windows\Fonts**. Reading both paths tells you why a font works for you and not for a colleague.
Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts" | Select-Object Name,Length
Get-ChildItem C:\Windows\Fonts -Filter *.ttf | Measure-Object | Select-Object CountCopying the file is not enough — Windows lists fonts from the registry. The value name is the display name plus the type, the data is the file name.
Copy-Item .\MyFont-Regular.ttf C:\Windows\Fonts\ -Force
$key = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts'
New-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name 'MyFont Regular (TrueType)' -Value 'MyFont-Regular.ttf' -PropertyType String -ForceRead the registry and the folder back. If the value exists but the file does not, applications show the font as installed and render a fallback.
Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts' |
Select-Object -Property * | Select-String 'MyFont'
Test-Path C:\Windows\Fonts\MyFont-Regular.ttfThe cache lives in a service profile and can hold stale entries. Stop the service, clear the cache folder, start it again, and reboot once.
Stop-Service FontCache -Force
Remove-Item "$env:WINDIR\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\FontCache\*" -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Start-Service FontCache
shutdown /r /t 0A registry entry that points at a missing file is the usual reason an app reports a missing font. Compare both sides and remove the orphan value.
$key = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts'
$props = Get-ItemProperty $key
$props.PSObject.Properties |
Where-Object { $_.Name -notlike 'PS*' } |
Where-Object { -not (Test-Path (Join-Path C:\Windows\Fonts $_.Value)) } |
Select-Object Name,ValueDelete the file and the registry value together. System fonts that ship with Windows are protected and cannot be removed this way, which is the correct behaviour.
Remove-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts' -Name 'MyFont Regular (TrueType)' -Force
Remove-Item C:\Windows\Fonts\MyFont-Regular.ttf -ForceRestart the app, and check whether it was installed per user. Apps running as another account or as SYSTEM only see the machine-wide fonts.
The Fonts folder needs elevation for writes even though it is readable. Run the copy from an elevated PowerShell window.
The registry value is missing or has the wrong extension in the data field. The value name needs the (TrueType) suffix and the data the file name only.
One installed per user, the other expects machine-wide. Install it under HKLM for all accounts and remove the per-user copy.
No for installing. A manager helps when you need to activate hundreds of fonts temporarily, which is rare on Windows.
Windows protects the fonts its own UI depends on. The delete fails by design, not because of a bug.
Delete the registry value and the file from C:\Windows\Fonts, then restart the FontCache service. Per-user fonts are removed from %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts or through Settings > Personalisation > Fonts.
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