Using custom fonts without administrator rights?

I know you can put custom fonts in say C:\Windows\Fonts and applications will be able to find and use them. However this is only possible when you have administrator access to the machine, which is rarely the case in shared environments.

Is there a general way to use custom fonts from some other location suitable for non-admin users? If not, is there any manner specific for Adobe Fireworks (CS3) and Office 2007?

I'm interested mainly in XP and Vista, but a solution that works for other Windows versions would be great.

Solution 1:

Adding and removing system fonts is an Administrator task, and will be denied to users who don't have the admin permissions (Power User is actually probably enough), as they could really mess up Windows by deleting or replacing standard system fonts. :)

You could give the users write access to their \Windows\Fonts folder, and that will let them install fonts.

Solution 2:

Using custom fonts without administrator privileges is possible with the PortableApps.com platform (introduced in version 10.0).

To use custom fonts:

1. Download and extract the PortableApps.com platform

   

   

2. Copy the font files to the <PortableApps>\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\Data\Fonts directory. Create this folder if it does not already exist.

   

3. Close and restart the PortableApps.com platform.

   

   

The fonts should now be usable in other applications while the PortableApps.com platform is running.