Anyone has any experience installing MikTeX on an external harddrive, in order to run the same installation on different computers? Is it possible? Are there special things to consider?
I never got it to work with a USB memory stick, and I don't feel like going through the same pointless procedure with my new USB external harddrive if it can be avoided. Still it would be REALLY cool (not to mention time-saving) if it could be done.
Many thanks in advance,
Niels
MiKTeX and proTeXt ⇒ Installing/running MikTeX on an external harddrive?
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Installing/running MikTeX on an external harddrive?
Hi Niels,
Using MiKTeX in a portable setup is not that simple because MiKTeX stores its settings in the registry. There are some unofficial solutions that try to go around that problem. See this thread for some more information on portable use of MiKTeX and TeX Live.
I am working on integrating TeX Live into PortableApps Platform, but it will be some weeks or months before this is ready (depending on how much time I can devote to this project). There are a few changes that are needed to make TeX Live fully portable, but generally much less in comparison with MiKTeX. If you would decide for TL raher than MiKTeX, I can try to help you.
Cheers,
Tomek
Using MiKTeX in a portable setup is not that simple because MiKTeX stores its settings in the registry. There are some unofficial solutions that try to go around that problem. See this thread for some more information on portable use of MiKTeX and TeX Live.
I am working on integrating TeX Live into PortableApps Platform, but it will be some weeks or months before this is ready (depending on how much time I can devote to this project). There are a few changes that are needed to make TeX Live fully portable, but generally much less in comparison with MiKTeX. If you would decide for TL raher than MiKTeX, I can try to help you.
Cheers,
Tomek
Re: Installing/running MikTeX on an external harddrive?
Ah, that's what I feared... thanks Tomek, but in that case I'll wait for your work in PortableApps. Which would kinda force me to switch to TeXlive, while I know and adore MikTeX 
Installing/running MikTeX on an external harddrive?
There is essentially no difference in using TL or MiKTeX, only in configuration and package management. And TeX Live has improved a lot in that area recently---now it has a package manager similar to MiKTeX.benti wrote:Ah, that's what I feared... thanks Tomek, but in that case I'll wait for your work in PortableApps. Which would kinda force me to switch to TeXlive, while I know and adore MikTeX
One feature that TL lacks compared to MiKTeX is on-the-fly package installation, but instead it can automatically resolve package dependencies during installation, which is more useful IMO (on-the-fly installation of packages with large number of dependencies takes ages in MiKTeX, because they are installed individually rather than in one go).
I will try to speed up my work on portable version.
Cheers,
Tomek