Windows Server 2012 R2 – Missing Fonts Issue

So I figured it out.

Having looked at the Resultant Set Of Policy and seeing nothing untoward there, I checked C:\windows\security\logs\winlogon.txt

The Windows 7 client GPO is a copy of the standard XP one that I created, and therefore had entries in it to allow domain users to edit the content of C:\windows\fonts.

However, Windows 7 shows this in winlogon.txt:

----Configure File Security...

Configure c:\windows\fonts.

Warning 5: Access is denied.

Error setting security on c:\windows\fonts.

I checked the GPO and removed the settings for this directory and re-added it, which upon a GPO update and restart gave me this:

----Configure File Security...

Configure c:\windows\fonts.

Configure c:\windows\system32\fntcache.dat.

File Security configuration was completed successfully.

I tried adding a font and voila! Worked as intended.

Hope this helps anyone else who may come across the same issue. No idea why re-adding the same security setting made it work but it did.

So after a bit of work I have fount that the best way to do this is to convert the fonts to open type fonts. Then you can deploy the font to the machine. Here is where I converted my fonts:

http://onlinefontconverter.com/

Once converted to ".otf", you can do the following steps:

1. Copy Font files to C:\Windows\Fonts

2. Modify the proper registry entry:

   "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts"

There are a number of other fonts already installed so you can just mirror the registry settings of another font.