I am using MiKTeX on Windows 10 with TeXStudio and I am literally trying to compile the simplest TeX document possible:
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
A
\end{document}
And I get the following error:
! I can't write on file `proof.pdf'.
No such file exists yet, so that's not the common issue of having the file open on Acrobat Reader. Here is my version information:
C:\Users\amitt>pdflatex --version
MiKTeX-pdfTeX 4.1 (MiKTeX 20.12)
© 1982 D. E. Knuth, © 1996-2020 Hàn Thế Thành
TeX is a trademark of the American Mathematical Society.
using bzip2 version 1.0.8, 13-Jul-2019
compiled with curl version 7.72.0; using libcurl/7.72.0 Schannel
compiled with expat version 2.2.10; using expat_2.2.10
compiled with jpeg version 9.4
compiled with liblzma version 50020052; using 50020052
compiled with libpng version 1.6.37; using 1.6.37
compiled with libressl version LibreSSL 3.1.4; using LibreSSL 3.1.4
compiled with MiKTeX Application Framework version 4.0; using 4.0
compiled with MiKTeX Core version 4.3; using 4.3
compiled with MiKTeX Archive Extractor version 4.0; using 4.0
compiled with MiKTeX Package Manager version 4.1; using 4.1
compiled with uriparser version 0.9.4
compiled with xpdf version 4.02
compiled with zlib version 1.2.11; using 1.2.11
And here is the log:
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.21 (MiKTeX 20.12) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2020.12.22) 22 DEC 2020 11:46
entering extended mode
**./proof.tex
(proof.tex
LaTeX2e <2020-10-01> patch level 2
L3 programming layer <2020-12-07> xparse <2020-03-03>
("C:\Program Files\MiKTeX\tex/latex/base\article.cls"
Document Class: article 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX document class
("C:\Program Files\MiKTeX\tex/latex/base\size10.clo"
File: size10.clo 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX file (size option)
)
\c@part=\count177
\c@section=\count178
\c@subsection=\count179
\c@subsubsection=\count180
\c@paragraph=\count181
\c@subparagraph=\count182
\c@figure=\count183
\c@table=\count184
\abovecaptionskip=\skip47
\belowcaptionskip=\skip48
\bibindent=\dimen138
)
("C:\Program Files\MiKTeX\tex/latex/l3backend\l3backend-pdftex.def"
File: l3backend-pdftex.def 2020-09-24 L3 backend support: PDF output (pdfTeX)
\l__kernel_color_stack_int=\count185
\l__pdf_internal_box=\box47
) (proof.aux)
\openout1 = `proof.aux'.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for OML/cmm/m/it on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for OMS/cmsy/m/n on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for OT1/cmr/m/n on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for T1/cmr/m/n on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for TS1/cmr/m/n on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for OMX/cmex/m/n on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: Checking defaults for U/cmr/m/n on input line 3.
LaTeX Font Info: ... okay on input line 3.
! I can't write on file `proof.pdf'.
Please type another file name for output
! Emergency stop.
<argument> ...shipout:D \box_use:N \l_shipout_box
l.5 \end{document}
*** (job aborted, file error in nonstop mode)
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
382 strings out of 479696
6840 string characters out of 2876950
271423 words of memory out of 3000000
17563 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+200000
403430 words of font info for 27 fonts, out of 3000000 for 9000
1141 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
43i,4n,49p,129b,100s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,50000s
! ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!
Oddly enough, this issue does not occur when I try compiling a TeX file found on my Google Drive sync folder - but it does seem to occur on any other folder. I do not know when this started happening, since I normally work on my Google Drive folder.
.sytexand.logfile. Or simply, restart your computer. – Zarko Dec 22 '20 at 12:06