OthersMacTeX and TeXshop /usr/pdflatex does not exist

Information and discussion about other TeX distributions not listed above; installation, administration; field reports
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vchauhan
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:31 am

MacTeX and TeXshop /usr/pdflatex does not exist

Post by vchauhan »

Hi,

I am completely new to LaTeX, I installed MacTeX, and when I try to typeset I get an error saying

/usr/pdflatex does not exist. Perhaps TeXLive was not installed or was removed during a system upgrade. If so, go to the TeXShop web site and follow the instructions to (re)install TeXLive. Another possibility is that a tool path is incorrectly configured in TeXShop preferences. This can happen if you are using the fink teTeX distribution.

can somebody please help me resolve this issue?

many thanks

V

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josephwright
Site Moderator
Posts: 814
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:19 pm

MacTeX and TeXshop /usr/pdflatex does not exist

Post by josephwright »

The error message is from TeXShop, not from MacTeX. Did you download the (vary large) MacTeX installer? If so, can you start the Terminal and type

Code: Select all

ls /usr/local
, and report what you see?
Joseph Wright
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EnriqueVilla
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2025 10:31 pm

Re: MacTeX and TeXshop /usr/pdflatex does not exist

Post by EnriqueVilla »

Hi V, welcome to LaTeX! That error usually means TeXLive isn’t properly installed or TeXShop can’t find it. I’d recommend reinstalling MacTeX from scratch and then checking TeXShop’s preferences to make sure the path to pdflatex is correct (usually it should point to /Library/TeX/texbin/pdflatex). That should fix it!
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