If you do not have access to a Windows license, you can use open-source replacements that mimic Ms Shell Dlg 2’s metrics. These are 98% visually identical but legally free.
How to use: Download the TTF from Google Fonts or GitHub, install it on your system, then create a font alias.
For Linux: Create ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf with:
<alias>
<family>Ms Shell Dlg 2</family>
<prefer><family>Arimo</family></prefer>
</alias>
If you have a legitimate copy of Windows (any version from 98 to 11), you already own the license for Microsoft Sans Serif. Ms Shell Dlg 2 Font Download High Quality Ttf
Steps:
Quality check: This is the definitive high-quality TTF — clear hinting, proper kerning, and support for Western, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Hebrew scripts. It is vector-based, so it scales perfectly from 8pt dialog text to large headlines.
If you want, I can:
You cannot legally download a standalone file named MsShellDlg2.ttf.
To get the font:
No, you cannot download "Ms Shell Dlg 2" directly because it is a system setting, not a file. If you do not have access to a
However, you can download the physical font that it represents. On the vast majority of modern Windows systems (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11), Ms Shell Dlg 2 = Tahoma.
If you need the .ttf file for design work (e.g., creating a mockup in Photoshop that matches a Windows application interface), you actually need the Tahoma font.