Ubuntu – “Failure to download extra data files” with ttf-mscorefonts-installer on Ubuntu 16.04

Solution 1:

Connect to the internet and run this command below, to fix the error

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

This will reinstall the package, and download the data files needed to configure the package. Wait for some times to finish downloading. The download size is approximately 4MB.

Solution 2:

1. Connect to the internet and go to this sourceforge link and download all the .exe files there except wd97vwr32.exe file.

2. Copy those files in your home directory.

3. Run this command to configure the package

   sudo dpkg-reconfigure ttf-mscorefonts-installer
   

   • This will ask you whether you have downloaded microsoft fonts or not. Use Tab to select OK, and hit Enter.

   • Then again you will be asked to enter the directory name for the downloaded files, Type the location of your home directory and use Tab to select OK, and hit Enter.

     For example, if your login name is anwar, the location will be /home/anwar, because I copied the downloaded files there.

Done! you have successfully configured and setup the package.

Note: If the files cannot be downloaded due to 404 error, check the "Can't download?" section

What was the cause of the problem?

This package ttf-mscorefonts-installer is used to download Microsoft's font files (those files are made freely available by Microsoft) from the Internet and install them. Since you must accept the EULA of Microsoft to use those font files, those fonts cannot be included in the package like other Free (Free as freedom) packages.

The problem was, somehow you get disconnected from Internet before downloading those files. So, is the message asking to download more data files.

Can't download?

If you can't download the files due to 404 errors, I have prepared a tar.gz archive of the downloaded contents. You can download it from this dropbox link and extract it to a folder. If you extract it to /tmp/, you'll type that directory after the dpkg-reconfigure command in Solution 2.

Same problem, found a solution

1. Install the package ttf-mscorefonts-installer, we need some things from the package later

   sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
   

2. Download and install the fonts

   TMP=$(mktemp -d)
   cd "$TMP"
   awk '/Url/ {system("wget "$2)}' /usr/share/package-data-downloads/ttf-mscorefonts-installer
   sudo /usr/lib/msttcorefonts/update-ms-fonts "$TMP"/*
   

3. Avoid future error message

   sudo touch /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/ttf-mscorefonts-installer
   

4. Housekeeping

   cd ..
   rm -r "$TMP"
   

_{primary source}

Problem solved ;)