How to restore default fonts on Mavericks?

I have deleted the Lucida Grande font from my system, and system bars and menus are full of weird characters. I cannot use my MBA properly. How can I restore system fonts without losing my data?

Solution 1:

Place LucidaGrande.ttc in /System/Library/Fonts/.

You can extract fonts from your OS X install media using Pacifist or grab a copy from your backup or another Mac with similar build/version.

For more information regarding recovering system files, see:

• How can I get back a system file after deleting it from my Mac?

Solution 2:

You can also copy the font from the recovery partition:

diskutil mount Recovery\ HD;hdiutil mount /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg;sudo cp /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Library/Fonts/Base/LucidaGrande.ttc /System/Library/Fonts

Solution 3:

You can also use sudo fontrestore default.

From the man page:

NAME
     fontrestore -- Restore the available system fonts to a pristine state, if
     possible.

SYNOPSIS
     fontrestore default [-n]

DESCRIPTION
     fontrestore detects fonts in /Library/Fonts, /System/Library/Fonts, and
     ~/Library/Fonts which are not part of the system install and moves them
     to /Library/Fonts (Removed), /System/Library/Fonts (Removed), and
     ~/Library/Fonts/Fonts (Removed) directories. Critical fonts required for
     operation of the user interface are also restored.

     The [-n] option performs the same operation without touching the disk,
     describing what would be done without actually doing it.