New Members ⇒ Hi from the US
Hi from the US
Hi Everyone,
I am biological engineer in the midwest (US). I have used some LaTeX before but never have installed it on my own machine. I am now trying to install everything on my own computer. The whole process is not very intuitive and I could really use some help (and links!).
I understand that more than one thing needs to be installed. I have already installed TexnicCenter as that is what I have used in the past. I have also installed MikTeX. I thought MikteX would include everything I need including LaTeX but when I open TexnicCenter and try to add LaTeX, it says it cannot find it.
Thank you for your help!
Evan
I am biological engineer in the midwest (US). I have used some LaTeX before but never have installed it on my own machine. I am now trying to install everything on my own computer. The whole process is not very intuitive and I could really use some help (and links!).
I understand that more than one thing needs to be installed. I have already installed TexnicCenter as that is what I have used in the past. I have also installed MikTeX. I thought MikteX would include everything I need including LaTeX but when I open TexnicCenter and try to add LaTeX, it says it cannot find it.
Thank you for your help!
Evan
NEW: TikZ book now 40% off at Amazon.com for a short time.

- Johannes_B
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 4182
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:08 pm
Hi from the US
Hi and welcome in our little community,
nice that you installed LaTeX on your machine (or trying to).
It very much sounds that TeXnicCenter cannot find the MikTeX executables, not very surprising for me. Usually, you install the editor after the TeX distribution in order for the editor to look for the needed files and set the internal paths accordingly.
With MikTeX should have been installed another very clean and easy to use editor: Texworks. Test a very minimal example with it to check if the installation went ok.
If so, you can manually change the paths of TeXnicCenter, or reinstall it, which should also fix the path-issue.
nice that you installed LaTeX on your machine (or trying to).
It very much sounds that TeXnicCenter cannot find the MikTeX executables, not very surprising for me. Usually, you install the editor after the TeX distribution in order for the editor to look for the needed files and set the internal paths accordingly.
With MikTeX should have been installed another very clean and easy to use editor: Texworks. Test a very minimal example with it to check if the installation went ok.
If so, you can manually change the paths of TeXnicCenter, or reinstall it, which should also fix the path-issue.
The smart way: Calm down and take a deep breath, read posts and provided links attentively, try to understand and ask if necessary.
Re: Hi from the US
Hi Johannes_B,
I tried using Texworks and it failed as well. "C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64\miktex-pdftex.exe did not succeed."
Any thoughts? (Also, I am running Windows 10 64 bit if that matters).
Thank you,
Evan
I tried using Texworks and it failed as well. "C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64\miktex-pdftex.exe did not succeed."
Any thoughts? (Also, I am running Windows 10 64 bit if that matters).
Thank you,
Evan
- Johannes_B
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 4182
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:08 pm
Re: Hi from the US
That looks different, it finds the binaries, but it looks as if it aborts due to a compilation error. Try running the most minimal example, i.e. the hello world example.
The smart way: Calm down and take a deep breath, read posts and provided links attentively, try to understand and ask if necessary.
Re: Hi from the US
Hi Johannes_B,
I tried just hello world. This time it tried to create the file but failed citing the same problem.
Any thoughts?
Thank you again,
Evan
I tried just hello world. This time it tried to create the file but failed citing the same problem.
Any thoughts?
Thank you again,
Evan
- Johannes_B
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 4182
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:08 pm
Re: Hi from the US
Can you show us a log-file or screenshot of the error message?
The smart way: Calm down and take a deep breath, read posts and provided links attentively, try to understand and ask if necessary.
Hi from the US
Input:
Error Message:
\documentclass{article}
\begin{doument}
Hello World
\end{document}
Error Message:
Log:This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.16 (MiKTeX 2.9 64-bit)
Sorry, but C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64\pdflatex.EXE did not succeed.
The log file hopefully contains the information to get MiKTeX going again:
C:/Users/Evan/AppData/Local/MiKTeX/2.9/miktex/log/pdflatex.log
You may want to visit the MiKTeX project page (http://miktex.org), if you
need help.
texify: pdflatex failed for some reason (see log file).
2015-10-11 13:19:50,556-0400 FATAL pdflatex - The memory dump file could not be found.
2015-10-11 13:19:50,556-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Info: pdflatex.fmt
2015-10-11 13:19:50,556-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\TeXAndFriends\texmfapp.cpp
2015-10-11 13:19:50,556-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Line: 859
2015-10-11 16:10:52,178-0400 FATAL pdflatex - The memory dump file could not be found.
2015-10-11 16:10:52,178-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Info: pdflatex.fmt
2015-10-11 16:10:52,178-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\TeXAndFriends\texmfapp.cpp
2015-10-11 16:10:52,178-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Line: 859
2015-10-11 16:20:08,967-0400 FATAL pdflatex - The memory dump file could not be found.
2015-10-11 16:20:08,968-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Info: pdflatex.fmt
2015-10-11 16:20:08,968-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\TeXAndFriends\texmfapp.cpp
2015-10-11 16:20:08,968-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Line: 859
2015-10-11 21:13:30,898-0400 FATAL pdflatex - The memory dump file could not be found.
2015-10-11 21:13:30,898-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Info: pdflatex.fmt
2015-10-11 21:13:30,898-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\TeXAndFriends\texmfapp.cpp
2015-10-11 21:13:30,899-0400 FATAL pdflatex - Line: 859
Re: Hi from the US
Deleting and redownloading MikTeX didn't help.
- Stefan Kottwitz
- Site Admin
- Posts: 10341
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:44 pm
Hi from the US
Hi Even,
welcome to the forum!
It seems like a permission issue. I would run the MiKTeX setup and administrator and give full access to C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Temp and the installation folder, perhaps "Synchronize Repository" in the MiKTeX package manager (maintenance) then already helps.
But, actually I would do something different.
I would install TeX Live.
That's what I always use today. It's easy to install, I would do a full installation over the Internet.
Stefan
welcome to the forum!
It seems like a permission issue. I would run the MiKTeX setup and administrator and give full access to C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Temp and the installation folder, perhaps "Synchronize Repository" in the MiKTeX package manager (maintenance) then already helps.
But, actually I would do something different.
I would install TeX Live.

Stefan
LaTeX.org admin
Re: Hi from the US
Is TeX live supported on Windows 10 (Or Windows 8)?