2008.4.14

Revised 2015.4.13

How to Install LaTex (ProTeXt) files

ProTeXt is “an easy-to-install TeX distribution for Windows”. It is well-designed and very easy to implement. Ironically, however, this kind setting for installation sometimes confuses laymen like me (as of April 2015, the confusing part has been revised). This document intends to provide further assistance in installing ProTeXt.

1) Go to the TeX Users Group website: http://www.tug.org/

2) Left column of the main page shows the links. The fourth group from the top is links to “Software”.

3) Link to proTeXt is located at the second from the bottom of “Software” group. Click “proTeXt”.

4) You are now in ProTeXt home page. I recommend you to read it through. Then click “download the self-extracting protext.exe file”, which is located at the first line of “Download and install”.

5) Now there are three files (as of April 13, 2015) we can click. Choose protext.exe (is located at the bottom as of April 13, 2015), and click it. In the choice, do not run it (I recommend), but save it in your extra drive (such as D or I, not in the system drive “C”). In my case, I downloaded it onto my extra drive “I”. This is a big file and takes some time to be downloaded.

6) A big exe file, protext.exe, is now in your extra drive or directory. Note that this is not a set-up file, but a compressed file including the set-up file and all the LaTex system.

7) Click “protext.exe”. This click is for decompressing. I recommend you to decompress it on the (same) extra drive or directory. In my case, I decompress the files on my “I” drive.

8) Now you have a folder named ProTeXt. In this folder, you have a “setup.exe” file.

9) When you click setup.exe file, a small window of titled “ProTeXt –Installation” appears, and ask you the language you prefer.

10) Choose the language you prefer. For most of the students in Chiba University, I believe that it will be English. .

11) Below “language” there is a button for “Manual”. Click it. Then you will see the PDF file titled protetext-install-en.pdf. It is almost always better to read the manual.

12) After you read the manual, go back to the small window for setting up proTeXt. Below “Manual”, there is a button for MiKTeX. If you have installed the older versions of MiKTex in your computer, click “Uninstall” first. If this is the first time to install MiKTex in your computer, just click “Install”.

13) Installation starts.

14) Unless you have good experience in LaTex, simply follow the recommended settings (like the folder to install).

15) LaTex is a big system. Installation takes substantial time (this might be due to my choice to make a full installation). Take a cup of tea, or do other works (as you like) while waiting.

16) Done!