I recently ran into a problem starting Spyder 6.1.5 on a Windows 11 system configured to block untrusted fonts, with a user account that lacks font installation rights.
This situation triggers the FontError exception in mainwindow.py (image),
however the list of fonts it provides is incomplete.
Installing all of the listed fonts for all users therefore does not resolve the issue, and spyder will still refuse to start.
(spydertest) C:\Users\Username1>python "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Scripts\spyder-script.pyw"
ARB::createContext: wglCreateContextAttribsARB() failed (GL error code: 0x0) for format: QSurfaceFormat(version 2.0, options QFlags<QSurfaceFormat::FormatOption>(), depthBufferSize -1, redBufferSize -1, greenBufferSize -1, blueBufferSize -1, alphaBufferSize -1, stencilBufferSize -1, samples -1, swapBehavior QSurfaceFormat::DefaultSwapBehavior, swapInterval 1, colorSpace QSurfaceFormat::DefaultColorSpace, profile QSurfaceFormat::NoProfile), shared context: 0x0 (The operation completed successfully.)
GDI::createContext: wglCreateContext failed. (The operation completed successfully.)
Unable to create a GL Context.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\app\mainwindow.py", line 1401, in main
mainwindow = create_window(MainWindow, app, splash, options, args)
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\app\utils.py", line 360, in create_window
main.setup()
~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\app\mainwindow.py", line 691, in setup
internal_plugins = find_internal_plugins()
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\app\find_plugins.py", line 45, in find_internal_plugins
mod = importlib.import_module(entry_point.module)
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 88, in import_module
return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1387, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1360, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1331, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 935, in _load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 1023, in exec_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\plugins\pylint\plugin.py", line 25, in <module>
from spyder.plugins.pylint.confpage import PylintConfigPage
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\plugins\pylint\confpage.py", line 16, in <module>
from spyder.plugins.pylint.main_widget import (MAX_HISTORY_ENTRIES,
MIN_HISTORY_ENTRIES,
PylintWidget)
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\plugins\pylint\main_widget.py", line 94, in <module>
class CategoryItem(QTreeWidgetItem):
...<42 lines>...
self.setIcon(0, icon)
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\plugins\pylint\main_widget.py", line 106, in CategoryItem
'icon': ima.icon("convention")
~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\utils\icon_manager.py", line 466, in icon
qta.load_font('spyder', 'spyder.ttf', 'spyder-charmap.json',
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
directory=self._resource['directory'])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\qtawesome\__init__.py", line 314, in load_font
return _instance().load_font(prefix, ttf_filename, charmap_filename, directory)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\qtawesome\iconic_font.py", line 432, in load_font
raise FontError(
...<8 lines>...
)
qtawesome.iconic_font.FontError: Font at 'C:\Users\Username1\AppData\Local\miniconda3\Lib\site-packages\spyder\utils\../fonts\spyder.ttf' appears to be empty. If you are on Windows 10, please read https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3053676 to know how to prevent Windows from blocking the fonts that come with QtAwesome.
I believe the issue lies in utils\icon_manager.py attempting to load an additional font that is not listed in the original error message, by calling
qta.load_font('spyder', 'spyder.ttf', 'spyder-charmap.json',
directory=self._resource['directory'])
For systems set up to block untrusted fonts, this will fail, but the generated error message does not provide useful information to help the user resolve the issue.
After installing the spyder.ttf font for all users, the error message no longer appears, and Spyder loads successfully.
I therefore believe that the original list of fonts, and the folder from which they should be installed, is incomplete and needs correction.
I recently ran into a problem starting Spyder 6.1.5 on a Windows 11 system configured to block untrusted fonts, with a user account that lacks font installation rights.
This situation triggers the FontError exception in mainwindow.py (image),
however the list of fonts it provides is incomplete.
Installing all of the listed fonts for all users therefore does not resolve the issue, and spyder will still refuse to start.
To troubleshoot the issue I added the below to the FontError function:
import traceback; traceback.print_exc()and launched Spyder through spyder-script.pyw to obtain the below error output in the console:
I believe the issue lies in utils\icon_manager.py attempting to load an additional font that is not listed in the original error message, by calling
For systems set up to block untrusted fonts, this will fail, but the generated error message does not provide useful information to help the user resolve the issue.
After installing the spyder.ttf font for all users, the error message no longer appears, and Spyder loads successfully.
I therefore believe that the original list of fonts, and the folder from which they should be installed, is incomplete and needs correction.