Install font via login script?

Anyone know how to install a font to via a login script? Preferrably we would like to do this through a Windows 2000 script but we can also do it through Novell Netware. Out network consists of a Windows 2000 AD in native mode, Novell Netware 4.11 for file and print services and 99% workstations are Windows 2000 Professional with a few Win9x machines here and there.

I whipped up a quick batch file that simply says

copy z3of9.ttf %windir%\fonts

The TTF file copies fine but the font is not actually installed for use by Windows and applications. If I browse to my fonts directory I see it there and by simply viewing the directory, the font installs itself. I know, weird.

Anyway to get this font installed without having to manually browse to the fonts directory?

 

Update: workaround...

I've come up with a workaround adding the following line to the script

explorer %windir%\fonts

which brings up the Fonts directory (thus installing the font). This is not ideal because it requires user intervention to close the window which will probably just confuse people even if we tell them in advance.

 

If you can feed it ALT-F4 with your script, you will close the explorer session.

 

Well, I thought of that but I can't find any way to put ALT-F4 in a command line.

 

Can use SendKeys by calling VBScript or ScriptIt .

InstallShield has an article on how to do it programatically.

 

Awesome, unixfan! That's what I'm looking for. Thanks!

 

Ok, this is going to sound silly but I cannot find the ScriptIt executbale for download anywhere. I can download the white paper on it and searching through Google I see I found a ton of sites saying you can download for free from MS but they must have removed it.

 

Try here

 

Great, thanks for all your help! I did come across that site when searching but in my haste I missed the little text "Click here to access scriptit.exe" the first time.

 

In case anyone gets to this through a search you can avoid having to open explorer by regedit'ing the correct entries into hklm\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\fonts. It does mean it needs a reboot though before they tahe effect.