00 - Installing LaTeX on a personal computer

00 - Installing LaTeX on a personal computer

ATTENTION Correct installation of LaTeX environment requires installing software in given order:

  1. LaTeX system
  2. TeXStudio

In case of not following above order, problems with correct configuration of the software might occur.

LaTeX system

LaTeX environment consists of many separate programs which process document source, and compile it to a chosen output format, such as PDF.

Microsoft Windows

MiKTeX is a popular distribution of LaTeX for Microsoft Windows. Go to the project’s website, https://miktex.org/, into the Downloads section and select Installer for Windows.

Run the installation, leaving default options. After installing, launch MiKTeX Console (Start → MiKTeX → MiKTeX Console), and switch to administrator mode:

1

Switch to Packages pane:

2

To avoid problems with missing packages, it is convenient to install all that are available. Sort the list by installation date, select all packages that are not installed, right click and pick *Install package":

5

ATTENTION Full LaTeX system installation can take up to 7 GB of hard disk space, and take up to several hours, depending on connection speed and server availibility.

Linux, macOS

If you use a system other than Microsoft Windows, ask the teacher for advice before installing.

Editor

After installing LaTeX system you can install a graphical editor that will make editing documents much easier. During classes we will be using TeXStudio:

https://www.texstudio.org/

The installation is straightforward, and TeXStudio should detect a valid installation of MiKTeX. In case of any problems, ask the teacher for help

Authors: Rafał Kabaciński, Tomasz Mańkowski, Jakub Tomczyński