[insider preview] Non-admin font installation in Windows 10 (New feature in v1809)

[Arthur]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Source: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/06/27/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-17704/

 

Font installation for non-admin users

Have you ever wanted to use your own fonts from your account on a shared school or work PC, but couldn’t because you didn’t have the administrator privileges required to install the fonts? Well, we’ve heard your frustration about this and have made some changes.

 

In the past, fonts in Windows have always been installed for all users. Because that is a system-wide change, it always required admin privilege. The need for an admin was reflected in the user interface. For example, if you browse in File Explorer to a folder containing a font file and right-clicked on the file to bring up the context menu, then the “Install” option would appear with the security badge, which means that it requires an admin.

 

If you tried to install a font but didn’t have admin privileges, then you would be presented with a User Account Control dialog, so that an admin could approve the change. If you’re a non-admin user and often need to install (or uninstall) fonts, then that could be a big hassle.

 

In the Windows 10 1803 feature update, we introduced fonts in the Microsoft Store. To enable that capability, we needed to make changes deep in Windows to allow a font to be installed for a specific user rather than system-wide. That’s why no admin action is needed when fonts acquired in the Store are installed.

 

Now we’ve extended this further to include font files that you obtain from other sources and want to install. Now when you right-click on a font file in File Explorer, you’ll see two options. “Install for all users” provides the past, system-wide install capability and requires an admin. But now there is another option: “Install” allows any user, including non-admin users, to install a font for their own use.

 

Often font files come within a compressed folder (that is, a .zip file). The “Install” context-menu option isn’t available in File Explorer when you view the contents of a compressed folder, but you can double-click the font file within the compressed folder to open it in the font previewer, and that provides an “Install” button. In the past, the button in the font previewer had the security badge, and it would do a system-wide install, requiring an admin. Now the security badge is gone, and the “Install” button in the font previewer performs a single-user font install, which can be done by non-admins.

 

[Steve21]

That seems quite a terrible idea for a school.... Cue 999 tickets that when people send documents to teachers/reprographic etc they lose all their formatting as they don't have said fonts installed? "But it works fine on myyyy screen!"

 

Steve

[Oaktech]

Will they be releasing an updated set of GPO to allow this for some and disable it for others? I want my office staff to be able to do this and my students to categorically not!

[Arthur]

That seems quite a terrible idea for a school....

Students (and schools) with Macs have had this feature for a really long time.

 

Cue 999 tickets that when people send documents to teachers/reprographic etc they lose all their formatting as they don't have said fonts installed?

 

^ Problem solved?

 

Will they be releasing an updated set of GPO to allow this for some and disable it for others?

I hope so.