How to configure ps2pdf in miktex portable?

Question

I'm using miktex portable 2.9 with TexStudio in Windows 7 without administrator permission. When I try to use ps2pdf, I get the following error: "mgs.exe is not recognizable as an internal or external command". I think I have configured it right (as all other commands (pdflatex, latex, etc) are running well). I guess this is because I don't have administrator permission, but I'm not sure. And if this is the problem, does anyone have a solution? Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

I have my students using Portable Miktex 2.9 with Texmaker. And the entry on the ps2pdf is

 "../MikTexPortable/miktex/bin/ps2pdf" %.ps

I have both Texmaker and Texstudio configured on my clip and I use successfully the exact same entry.

I configured my clip initially on an XP box and then copied it to a server so students could download it to their clip. It successfully runs on XP, Vista, and Win 7 both from a clip or with the folder copied onto the computers hard drive.

The important item is that your configuration for TeXStudio and all other software required must not touch the registry or access any programs connected to the registry. (In XP and Vista this was not a tightly enforced, but Win 7 has a much more diligent internal security model. [a good thing])

As a side note: I still have not been able to do a non-portable install of MikTeX 2.9 on any Windows 7 machine on my campus because of the additional security options selected (so far I can not get a waiver) by the University System Admin.

Answer 2

I've just faced the same problem but I'm using Texmaker as editor. Following Ammar's suggestion, I added the miktex bin folder to the path so mgs could be found during the ps2pdf conversion. However, Texmaker gives the option "Add to PATH" in its settings tab, so it isn't necessary to edit the system variable, thus avoiding security problems.

It worked on Windows XP, with Miktex portable 2.9.4250 and Texmaker 3.5.2

Answer 3

I am also facing this problem. Haven't yet found the solution, but after some debugging, I have found the cause of problem.

The ps2pdf command in miktex uses ghostscript to generate a pdf. It uses an internal ghostscript converter 'mgs.exe' found in the same miktex/bin directory. So, if you try to convert a ps to pdf while in the bin directory, the command will work successfully. But when using this command through an editor, like TeXstudio, the working directory is different. Thats why mgs.exe is not found.

Now, a possible solution would be to temporarily add the miktex/bin directory to path. But I am not sure you could do it without admin rights.

Answer 4

I am also struggling with this, but I got by with just using mgs.exe directly instead of the wrapper ps2pdf. See this post: Configuring portable TeXstudio to use MiKTeX portable

My ps2pdf entry in TeXmaker is set to:

MIKTEX\miktex\bin\mgs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -o %.pdf %.ps

Maybe this is bad form, but it seems to work. I am curious if you have any thoughts on this or come up with other solutions?