Cryptic (to me) error message

Question

I got this error message:

Sorry, but "MiKTeX Configuration Utility" did not succeed.

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

C:/Users/Yarb/AppData/Local/MiKTeX/2.9/miktex/log/initexmf.log

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\texify.exe did not succeed.

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

C:/Users/Yarb/AppData/Local/MiKTeX/2.9/miktex/log/texify.log

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

Here is what the cited log file says:

2015-09-18 18:24:37,381-0500 INFO texify - running 'initexmf --quiet --update-fndb' to refresh the file name database 2015-09-18 18:24:37,508-0500 FATAL texify - The operation failed for some reason.

2015-09-18 18:24:37,508-0500 FATAL texify - Info: C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe

2015-09-18 18:24:37,508-0500 FATAL texify - Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp

2015-09-18 18:24:37,508-0500 FATAL texify - Line: 290

How can this be fixed?

Answer 1

As mentioned in the comments, MiKTeX offers on the homepage several installer programs. Theese installer are updated from time to time.

So for a new installation download the needed current installer from the MiKTeX homepage and run it after you have deleted the old files causing your problems.

BTW: after downloading the installer it is a good idea to first restart the computer, then install ...