The “unable to load font” error in Rockbox usually happens when the theme you installed is trying to use a font that isn’t present in your Rockbox installation. Here’s how you can fix it:

1. Check if the font is included in the theme

• Some Rockbox themes come with their own font files (.fnt) inside the theme’s .zip.
• If you just copied the .cfg file without the font files, Rockbox can’t load the required font.

2. Verify font placement

• Rockbox fonts need to be in the folder:
  
  ⎗

  ✓

  1	/.rockbox/fonts/

• Make sure the .fnt files from your theme are in that folder.
• Example: if the theme requires chicago12.fnt, it must be inside /.rockbox/fonts/chicago12.fnt.

3. Install the Rockbox Fonts package

• The base Rockbox install doesn’t always include all fonts.
• On the Rockbox downloads page, there’s a Fonts package.
• Download and unzip it to your device’s root so it merges into /.rockbox/fonts/.

4. Reload the theme

• After installing fonts, reboot your device or go to:
  

  ⎗

  ✓

  1	Settings → Theme Settings → Browse Themes

  and reload your chosen theme.

👉 Most likely, you just need to install the Fonts package and the problem will vanish.

Let’s go step by step. You’ll need a computer and a USB cable to connect your Rockbox device.

Step 1: Identify your device

Which player are you running Rockbox on? (e.g. iPod Video, Sansa Clip+, iRiver, etc.).
This matters only because you’ll need the right Rockbox build for your device, but the fonts package is the same for all.

Step 2: Download the Rockbox Fonts Package

1. Go to the official Rockbox download page:
   👉 https://www.rockbox.org/download/
2. Scroll down until you see “Fonts” (it’s listed under “Extras”).
3. Click to download the rockbox-fonts.zip file.

Step 3: Connect your device

1. Plug your Rockbox device into your computer with USB.
2. It should show up as a drive (like E:\ on Windows, or as a mounted folder on Linux/macOS).

Step 4: Extract fonts to the device

1. Open the rockbox-fonts.zip file you downloaded.
2. Inside, you’ll find a folder named .rockbox/fonts/ with many .fnt files.

3. Copy the fonts folder into your device’s .rockbox directory.

   • The final path on your device should look like:
     
     ⎗

     ✓

     1	/.rockbox/fonts/

   • Don’t just copy the zip — actually extract its contents.

Step 5: Safely disconnect and reboot

1. Safely eject/unmount your device from the computer.
2. Reboot it.
3. Try loading your theme again (Settings → Theme Settings → Browse Themes).

⚡ That should fix the “unable to load font” error.

To put themes on Rockbox, you’ll need to place the theme files in the right directory on your device and then select them from the Rockbox settings. Here’s the step-by-step:

1. Get Themes

• Download themes from the official Rockbox site: Rockbox Themes
• Each theme usually comes as a .zip file.

2. Connect Your Device

• Plug your Rockbox-enabled player into your computer via USB.
• It should show up as a USB mass storage device.

3. Extract the Theme

• Unzip the downloaded theme.
• Inside, you’ll find folders like wps, fonts, and sometimes themes.

4. Copy to Rockbox Directory

• Copy all those extracted folders directly into the .rockbox folder on your device.

  • Example path:
    
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    ✓

    1	<YourDevice>/.rockbox/

• If asked to merge folders, say yes.

5. Apply the Theme

• Safely disconnect your device and reboot it if necessary.

• On the Rockbox menu (like in your screenshot):

  • Go to Settings → Theme Settings → Browse Themes
  • Select your new theme.

⚠️ Tip:
If fonts look wrong, make sure you also installed the Rockbox fonts package (downloadable separately from the Rockbox site).