How can I accept the Microsoft EULA agreement for ttf-mscorefonts-installer?

Question

After a recent update, ttf-mscorefonts-installer prompted me to accept its license agreement.

 ┌─────────────────┤ Configuring ttf-mscorefonts-installer ├─────────────────┐
 │                                                                           │ 
 │ TrueType core fonts for the Web EULA                                        
 │                                                                             
 │ END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE                           
 │                                                                             
 │ IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: This Microsoft End-User License Agreement         
 │ ("EULA") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a        
 │ single entity) and Microsoft Corporation for the Microsoft software         
 │ accompanying this EULA, which includes computer software and may include    
 │ associated media, printed materials, and "on-line" or electronic            
 │ documentation ("SOFTWARE PRODUCT" or "SOFTWARE"). By exercising your        
 │ rights to make and use copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be      
 │ bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree to the terms of        
 │ this EULA, you may not use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.                            
 │                                                                             
 │                                  <Ok>                                       
 │                                                                           │ 
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 

Screenshot:

For some reason my terminal will not allow me to accept, or for some reason I am pressing the wrong hotkey... I've tried every letter on the keyboard and Enter among others... I'm sure there is a very simple and obvious solution to this.

I've also just tried to remove the package completely however the terminal states that due to the package not being correctly installed, I should reinstall the package before removing it. Very frustrating! Essentially, because I cannot successfully install this package, I can't really ever upgrade my system because I always have to end up terminating the terminal with the license agreement (thus the upgrade fails).

Solution 1

It's  ⇆ TAB , then return ↵.

:-)

---

In general, to navigate ncurses-style menus:

• Use the Tab key to move from one element (e.g., button, text box) to the next. Use Shift+Tab to move in reverse.
• Use Spacebar to "click" the selected button.
• Use Enter to click the default button (or currently selected button, if there is no default).
• You can move up and down in a textbox with the arrow keys, and with Page Up and Page Down. If that doesn't work, press Tab until the text box you want to navigate in is selected.

If you've accidentally said you don't agree to the EULA, and you want a chance to review it again and agree, you can reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer, purging its global configuration files:

sudo apt-get --purge --reinstall install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Solution 2

Normal install, deploying or in scripts

Use debconf to preset the selection. This will not prompt to accept the license:

echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula select true | sudo debconf-set-selections
sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

With Kickstart

Add this to your Kickstart.cfg file:

preseed --owner ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula boolean true

Solution 3

You can also accept the license with a single command like this:

echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula select true | debconf-set-selections

This will avoid creating the conf file.

If your using puppet, here is a recipe for installing the package:

class unifocus-context::msfonts {
  exec { "accept-msttcorefonts-license":
    command => "/bin/sh -c \"echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-     mscorefonts-eula select true | debconf-set-selections\""
  }

  package { "msttcorefonts":
    ensure  => installed,
    require => Exec['accept-msttcorefonts-license']
  }
}

Solution 4

Some people may find this question when searching for help installing ubuntu-restricted-extras (or when their questions accepting a EULA for ubuntu-restricted-extras are closed as a duplicate of this question).

ubuntu-restricted-extras is a metapackage that exists solely to install other packages.

One of those packages is ttf-mscorefonts-installer. That's the one you must agree to a EULA to finish installing. It fetches Microsoft fonts and installs them on your system.

• To agree to the EULA, use the Tab key to switch from "button" to "button" in the non-graphical "window", and either the Spacebar ("clicks" the selected "button") or the Enter key ("clicks" the "default" button). You can move up and down in the EULA with the arrow keys and with Page Up and Page Down.

• If you've accidentally said you don't agree to the EULA, and you want a chance to review it again and agree, you can reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer, purging its global configuration files:

  sudo apt-get --purge --reinstall install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
  

• If you decide you don't want those fonts at all (or are unwilling to accept the EULA for them), but you do want the other packages provided by ubuntu-restricted-extras, then remove ttf-mscorefonts-installer and make sure you have the other packages and that they're set to manually installed (so they don't go away in an autoremove after ubuntu-restricted-extras is removed with ttf-mscorefonts-installer):

  sudo apt-get remove ttf-mscorefonts-installer
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-addons gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse libavcodec-extra-53 unrar
  

Solution 5

Try hitting ➜ (The right arrow key). Then use the arrow keys to navigate and enter (That's return) for selecting an option.

View more solutions

Comments

[flo]

Personally, I think curses is wrong, you should be able to just press return. :P

[B Seven]

Wow, I would have never figured that out. Does this only happen with Microsoft installers?

[king_julien]

When using --quiet, will it automatically accept the licence?

[king_julien]

Is it possible to install the ubuntu-restricted-extras and automatically accept the licence in one command?

[Joey]

@BSeven: I guess Microsoft did not do the packaging on this one and the maintainer of the package implemented that dialog. But most of the time you don't have to accept EULAs when installing packages, so ...

[Janning]

I needed two debconf entries: echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula select true | sudo debconf-set-selections and echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/present-mscorefonts-eula note | sudo debconf-set-selections

[Kolappan N]

Well the enter(return) key didn't work. Also the right arrow cannot be used for navigation either.

[inquisitive]

I thought I'm the only person facing this, andI'm the only stupid to have not figured this out.. but it seems 121 users have upvoted the question and 161 liked as of date, I'm not the only one. you saved many of us. thnx

[Adrians Netlis]

Thank you very much, this solved my problem. I couldn't find how to retrive this other way:)

[rubo77]

@king_julien: no, --quiet will not accept the license, so that should not be an option without echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula select true | sudo debconf-set-selections!

[rubo77]

I removed the command without sudo and non-working --quiet option. Feel free to revert the edit if this is too much change, but I think the answer is much clearer like this now

[sudo]

I killed apt-get because I couldn't figure out how to accept the EULA. Now I'm stuck in a mess. Why the heck wasn't it something more obvious?

[Wyatt Ward]

@StefanoPalazzo Well, windows works that way too, actually. As do many UI's in linux distros. Tab moves between fields and space or enter pushes buttons/toggles checkboxes/radio buttons. shift-tab goes backwards if you miss a field, btw. (the more you know)

[kame]

And what if this doesn't work?

[thinksinbinary]

i think including the agreement in general is unnecessary, just more microsoft legal nonsense

[Lazar Ljubenović]

"Well I'm probably stupid but let's try Google... Oh it auto-completed! So there are at least a few people searching..." (Sees 300 upvotes) "Ok I'm normal!"

[tatsu]

how did you come up with the syntax for that? that's the interesting part. I want to apply this to Java jdk, steamcmd, ect

[Torsten Bronger]

As of Ubuntu 19.04, this does not suppress the EULA display. It just makes the “Yes” pre-selected.

[gkhanacer]

Thank you. I work.

[Олег Григорьев]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF******************‌​****************KKKK‌​KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK‌​KKKK

[MRL]

Brilliantly simple answer thats just saved me a lot of pain