How to fix the "Sorry, but C:\...\miktex-pdftex.exe did not succeed. " error?

Question

I just installed MikTex 2.9 and tried just making a simple table:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[h!]
  \begin{center}
    \caption{Caption for the table.}
    \label{tab:table1}
    \begin{tabular}{l|c||r}
      1 & 2 & 3\\
      \hline
      a & b & c\\
    \end{tabular}
  \end{center}
\end{table}

\end{document}

but got this message:

You may want to visit the MiKTeX project page (http://miktex.org), if you
need help.

Sorry, but C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\miktex-pdftex.exe did not succeed.

The log file hopefully contains the information to get MiKTeX going again:

  C:/Users/Solarmew/AppData/Local/MiKTeX/2.9/miktex/log/miktex-pdftex.log

You may want to visit the MiKTeX project page (http://miktex.org), if you
need help.

first I tried the solution here (Open the package manager (admin), use repositories -> synchronize) and it didn't give me the same error, but this time it said forest.sty not found, so I went here and followed the advise and changed package repository by checking "packages shall be installed from the internet". Now I have the first error back and it's not going away :(

here's the log:

2015-09-12 19:38:41,935-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 19:38:41,985-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 19:38:41,985-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 19:38:41,985-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 19:38:41,985-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 19:39:28,578-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 19:39:28,630-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 19:39:28,630-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 19:39:28,630-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 19:39:28,630-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 19:41:23,134-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 19:41:23,183-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 19:41:23,184-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 19:41:23,184-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 19:41:23,184-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 19:47:23,559-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 19:47:23,612-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 19:47:23,612-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 19:47:23,612-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 19:47:23,612-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 19:47:28,535-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 19:47:28,588-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 19:47:28,588-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 19:47:28,588-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 19:47:28,588-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 19:55:27,809-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - installing package pgf triggered by tex\latex\pgf\frontendlayer\tikz.sty
2015-09-12 19:55:28,190-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: starting package maintenance...
2015-09-12 19:55:28,190-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: installation directory: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9"
2015-09-12 19:55:28,190-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: package repository: http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/CTAN/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/
2015-09-12 19:55:28,433-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: lightweight database digest: fd7a40a42ed2f1e70be3b6bdb1baccf2
2015-09-12 19:55:28,434-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: going to download 9467103 bytes
2015-09-12 19:55:28,434-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: going to install 658 file(s) (1 package(s))
2015-09-12 19:55:28,435-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: downloading http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/CTAN/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/pgf.tar.lzma...
2015-09-12 19:55:42,770-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: 10594095 bytes, 722.22 KB/Sec
2015-09-12 19:55:42,798-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: visiting repository http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/CTAN/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/...
2015-09-12 19:55:42,798-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: repository type: remote package repository
2015-09-12 19:55:42,798-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: loading lightweight database...
2015-09-12 19:55:42,799-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: downloading http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/CTAN/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/miktex-zzdb1-2.9.tar.lzma...
2015-09-12 19:55:43,053-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: 157260 bytes, 604.62 KB/Sec
2015-09-12 19:55:43,249-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: lightweight database digest: effaaa46816771ed79be6c0905c3d630
2015-09-12 19:55:43,275-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: extracting files from pgf.tar.lzma...
2015-09-12 19:55:43,834-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Windows API error 87: The parameter is incorrect.

2015-09-12 19:55:43,834-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\ProgramData\MiKTeX\2.9\miktex/data/le\b1cfc6be702f63eea92ca0fbc9559e5c.fndb
2015-09-12 19:55:43,834-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\win\winMemoryMappedFile.cpp
2015-09-12 19:55:43,834-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 120
2015-09-12 19:56:33,540-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - installing package standalone triggered by tex\latex\standalone\standalone.cls
2015-09-12 19:56:33,903-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: starting package maintenance...
2015-09-12 19:56:33,904-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: installation directory: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9"
2015-09-12 19:56:33,904-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: package repository: http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/CTAN/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/
2015-09-12 19:56:34,071-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: lightweight database digest: effaaa46816771ed79be6c0905c3d630
2015-09-12 19:56:34,071-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: going to download 314852 bytes
2015-09-12 19:56:34,071-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: going to install 8 file(s) (1 package(s))
2015-09-12 19:56:34,072-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: downloading http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/CTAN/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/standalone.tar.lzma...
2015-09-12 19:56:34,856-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: 314852 bytes, 393.69 KB/Sec
2015-09-12 19:56:34,858-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - mpm: extracting files from standalone.tar.lzma...
2015-09-12 19:56:34,887-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Windows API error 87: The parameter is incorrect.

2015-09-12 19:56:34,887-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\ProgramData\MiKTeX\2.9\miktex/data/le\b1cfc6be702f63eea92ca0fbc9559e5c.fndb
2015-09-12 19:56:34,887-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\win\winMemoryMappedFile.cpp
2015-09-12 19:56:34,887-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 120
2015-09-12 20:02:10,783-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 20:02:11,019-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 20:02:11,020-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 20:02:11,020-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 20:02:11,020-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 20:03:12,810-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 20:03:13,031-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 20:03:13,032-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 20:03:13,032-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 20:03:13,032-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 20:06:53,271-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 20:06:53,497-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 20:06:53,498-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 20:06:53,498-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 20:06:53,498-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290
2015-09-12 20:08:00,190-0400 INFO  miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database
2015-09-12 20:08:00,412-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason.
2015-09-12 20:08:00,412-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
2015-09-12 20:08:00,412-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
2015-09-12 20:08:00,413-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290

There seems to be problems with MiKTeX since an update at the end of last month. Did you try deleting auxiliary files? — Bernard, Sep 13, 2015 at 0:58
I don't know what those are or how to do that >.> This is literally my first time using LaTeX — Raksha, Sep 13, 2015 at 1:40
Well we had a few problems these days – perhaps due to a corrupted finename database, but I can't say more, I don't these technicalities. That said, to delete auxiliary files, that depends on your editor. — Bernard, Sep 13, 2015 at 1:57
Did you search this site for similar questions? This has been reported quite a lot. AFAIR one recommendation is to do a repro sync. The open the package manager (probably the admin one) search for all package names with miktex as a part of the title and install them. — daleif, Sep 13, 2015 at 6:21
Have you tried updating your system via the Update Wizard? See also How should one maintain and update a MiKTeX installation?. I suspect this is the same general issue as MiKTeX: Two things did not succeed, but I can't say for sure. The message about forest.sty looks quite suspicious if it came from the example above. — moewe, Sep 13, 2015 at 7:00

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-13 12:35:45Z

The problem is with your installation, not updating packages. I had the same errors installing MiKTeX 2.9.5721 on windows 10 today.

2015-09-12 20:08:00,190-0400 INFO miktex-pdftex - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database 2015-09-12 20:08:00,412-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - The operation failed for some reason. 2015-09-12 20:08:00,412-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe 2015-09-12 20:08:00,412-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp 2015-09-12 20:08:00,413-0400 FATAL miktex-pdftex - Line: 290

After trying several fixes in this thread, this is what worked for me. I think first, there's a problem with the permissions in C:/Program Files (x86), which you can fix by creating a file on C:/ directly. Second (for me, maybe not you), I think there was an issue with another program trying to use one of the pdf map dl files (?) which was mentioned here. To solve this:

uninstalled my previous version of MiKTeX2.9
uninstalled adobe reader
reinstalled adobe reader
reboot
moved the MiKTeX download to a folder on the desktop
created a folder C:/MiKTeX 2.9
ran the install wizard and installed to my new folder as single user. (I never got the system install to work.)
After the wizard, immediately run MiKTeX Update Wizard. I selected to update only miktex-texworks-bin. (If I didn't run the updates before trying to TeX a document, nothing worked at all.)

You may be able to get away with not messing with your PDF viewer install, but definitely try creating a folder other than the Program Files (x86).

I had exactly the same problem. It was being caused by a version of the PDF that was also open on Adobe. Looks like the logging is not very accurate on it. — marco, Oct 11, 2016 at 10:51
My problem was solved only by installing as single user. Did not need to do all steps. — RMAAlmeida, May 30, 2017 at 19:55

Sheldor · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-18 02:04:39Z

7

That error can also appear, when you insert an image and the path of the image has special symbols in it like umlauts (ä,ü,ö). So make sure you don't have any of these in your image path.

answered Apr 18, 2017 at 2:04

Sheldor

711 silver badge1 bronze badge

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Foad · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-09 08:10:53Z

5

I had the same issue, this solution solved it without re-installation of MikTeX. Just search for MikTex Update (Admin) and update all the updatable packages. the first time the select all button is grayed out. go ahead with the preselected updates and finish. and then update again, this time select all. The trick is to run the Admin version of MikTex Update. That's it!

edited Jan 9, 2018 at 8:10

answered Dec 11, 2017 at 15:36

Foad

89311 silver badges25 bronze badges

This worked for me. I opened up MiKTeX Console, clicked "Switch to MikTeX administrator mode, on the sidebar clicked Updates (##), clicked check for updates, and clicked update now. Then after clearing the aux files my file was able to compile.
– Austin Downey
Jun 17, 2022 at 20:27

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Siyi Zhou · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-07 13:17:11Z

1

I have this error just because I opened the pdf file in Adobe Reader while I am compiling the Latex. Simply close this pdf file in Adobe Reader will solve the problem.

answered Mar 7, 2017 at 13:17

Siyi Zhou

112 bronze badges

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Mike Barnett · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-08 16:38:02Z

1

I had the same problem and looked into the log. It said that this command had failed:

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64>initexmf.exe --mklinks --mkmaps

I opened a command prompt in administrator mode and executed it and now pdflatex is working for me. I first tried to execute that in a non-administrator window and it failed because of permissions. So I am pretty sure this is the right solution.

answered Aug 8, 2017 at 16:38

Mike Barnett

211 bronze badge

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siracusa · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-10 13:42:28Z

1

In my case the problem was that the PDF document was open (in the browser) when I wanted to build it.

edited Dec 10, 2018 at 13:42

siracusa

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answered Dec 10, 2018 at 12:24

user176501

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Attaque · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-31 07:27:28Z

0

My problem was that I had two installations of MikTeX on my system (for whatever reason I don't know).

Simply deleting one of them solved the problem.

answered May 31, 2016 at 7:27

Attaque

1811 silver badge2 bronze badges

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Romain Picot · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-10 13:30:51Z

0

Had a similar Problem:

Sorry, but pdflatex did not succeed.

The log file hopefully contains the information to get MiKTeX going again:

C:/Users/Solarmew/AppData/Local/MiKTeX/2.9/miktex/log/pdflatex.log

--> set texmaker as default program for *.tex data solved this (... because texworks was set as default program)

edited Dec 10, 2018 at 13:30

Romain Picot

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answered Sep 25, 2017 at 13:11

user144237

1

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Kyle Mills · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-19 01:34:03Z

0

I had this problem, and the "solution" was to close the PDF that was open in another application (Microsoft Edge).

answered Feb 19, 2019 at 1:34

Kyle Mills

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Rohini · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-12 15:00:16Z

0

I experience this issue and the way I resolved this was by uninstalling MiKTeX and TexStudio and reinstall them and the issue was resolved. Thank You.

answered Apr 12, 2019 at 15:00

Rohini

1

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Sergey V. · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-01 19:58:47Z

0

In my case this problem solved by shortening the absolute path to the tex-file to be compiling. Nothing else was helping me.

answered Dec 1, 2019 at 19:58

Sergey V.

101

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Arnoud Buzing · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-01 20:12:12Z

0

I had this problem, and for me the underlying issue was that I have "Controlled Folder Access" enabled on my Windows machine. As a result you need to manually allow folder access for MikTeX. An additional complication was that I had my Windows notification turned to "Silent", so I did not see the message shown below. For me the problem happened right after installing MikTeX, and things started working after I allowed the appropriate folder acccess:

answered Sep 1, 2020 at 20:12

Arnoud Buzing

101

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Luiz Torres · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-25 16:16:46Z

0

I did pretty similar as Foad (above) described. Remove the previous version of MikTeX and install the new one. After, update it from MikTeX Console (remember to perform as 'Admin'). Finally, it worked for me! That's all folks! Thank you! PS.: I use TeXmaker instead of TeXworks!

answered Jul 25, 2021 at 16:16

Luiz Torres

1

This sounds similar to other suggestions. There's no need for duplication in the answers.
– Werner ♦
Jul 25, 2021 at 16:42

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