could not open default font 'fixed'

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I keep getting the error message: could not open default font 'fixed'

This is by far the most popular Frequently Asked Question

To run X you need at least the font 'fixed' and 'cursor' to display a cursor image and be able to print meaningful error messages. If these fonts are not present the server doesn't start. My Xserver refuses to start and gives me the error message:

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send the full server output, not just the last messages. This can be found in the log file "/var/log/Xorg.0.log". Please report problems to xorg@lists.freedesktop.org.

font server problem

There may be different reasons for this:

Somewhere (pretty much at the beginning of the log) there is a message:

Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list!

This message tells that the Xserver is trying to contact a font server which appearantly isn't running. So you need to get your font server up and running before you start X. How this is done depends heavily on the OS and/or the distribution you use. Please contact your vendor support on how to do this!


	The use of the font server xfs is deprecated due to several bugs in it. It is recommended that the Xserver loads the fonts directly. To do so add at least the lines:

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"

to the "Files" section of your xorg.conf file.

There is also a possibility that the [fontpath]/misc/fonts.alias file is missing. This can cause the X server to not find the alias of 'fixed' to whatever is the actual fixed font.

fixed -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--20-200-75-75-c-100-iso8859-1

fonts does not exist

If you see a messages like:

(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" does not exist.

Entry deleted from font path.

it means that this font path element either does not exist or isn't readable. Normally it is no problem if some font path elements listed in your xorg.conf are missing. However if /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/ is missing the cursor and the fixed fonts are missing, too, therefore the server cannot start. Therefore please make sure that this directory exists and is readable. To have a good selection of standard fonts you should have at least the directories listed above. If you need non-latin character sets more fonts may be required.

fonts.dir not found

Please also check for messages like:

(WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/" .
Entry deleted from font path.
(Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/").
...
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/, removing from list!

These tell you that the fonts were probably not installed correctly. Please do as suggested and run

mkfontdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/

Please replace /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/ with the directories listed in your log file. You should do this for every directory listed.