LaTeX on Windows

Warning

Because the TeX distribution modifies the search path of your system, only one TeX distribution can be active at a time. If you have MiKTeX installed remove it first or adapt the search path to switch between the two if you don’t want uninstall MiKTeX.

As said earlier there are multiple ways of getting a TeX distribution. However, we recommend the usage of TeXLive for Windows. Uninstall other TeX distributions if you don’t know how to switch the search path or if you have no strong arguments for having multiple TeX distributions in parallel on your system.

Follow the description below to download and run the TeXLive installer.

Installation of TeXLive

• For further information about the installation, read the installation information.

• Download the TeXLive installer

  

• Run TeXLive installer as administrator

  

  

• Choose Switzerland

  

• Disable installation TeXworks as we recommend to use texstudio

  

• In the schema control menu “Advanced -> Selections -> Scheme” choose “small scheme” installation.

  

• Start the installation

  

• Download tex-requirements.txt

• Open Powershell in the download directory as an administrator.

• Install the additional packages listed in tex-requirements.txt

  tlmgr install $(cat .\tex-requirements.txt)
  

• After a successful installation, you should have a directory called texlive on the C: drive of your system.

  

  Note

  The TeXLive documentation in multiple formats (html, pdf, …) and languages (en, de, fr, …) is available on tug.org.

Additional Tools/Packages

Fonts (required)

Install the default (and thus required) font nunito for the BFH CI.

Open TeX Live Manager and check if you already have installed nunito, if not install the font.

Biber (recommended)

Biber is used to generate bibliography in LaTeX.

Download and install the .exe file from the offical release website.

Latexmk (recommended)

A Perl script to compile LaTeX source file; Highly recommended.

It’s probably already installed. If not, open the TeXLive package manager GUI and install the latexmk package. Read the section about Latexmk for more information about the CLI build tool.

(HINT) The TeXLive installer installs a minimal Perl environment. If you need a fully featured one, install it using one of the installers listed below. (Only you really need it)

• Recommended: strawberryperl.com

• Alternative: perl.org

Inkscape (recommended)

Inkscape is used either to draw vector graphics and/or to convert SVGs into PDFs on-the-fly. A conversion is needed because LaTeX has no native support for the SVG format. Install Inkscape on Windows with the Inkscape installer.

Warning

Install Inkscape from the official website and NOT from the MS Store. As you have to export the PATH to Inkscape as an environment variable. Uninstall Inkscape if it’s already installed from MS Store.

• Download the latest Windows installer for Inkscape

• Install Inkscape as described in the official installation manual

  

• Execute the downloaded .exe file as administrator

  

• Follow the installation wizard and accept the license agreement.

  

• Add the Inkscape installation directory to the environment variable “PATH” during the installation procedure

  

• Use the default installation directory

  

• Keep the defaults for the start menu folder

  

• Click Install

  

• Click Finish (uncheck “Run Inkscape” first)

  

Editor

As described earlier, you can literally use any plain text editor to edit LaTeX documents. However, for beginners we recommend installing one of the editors listed below.

TexStudio

Install TeXStudio

VS Code

General purpose editor, together with the extension LaTeX Workshop

Installation Documentation