How to use latexindent on Windows?

Question

I want to use latexindent on my file. When I run the code

latexindent.exe myfile.tex

I get the following error.

Can't locate LatexIndent/Document.pm in @INC (you may need to install the LatexIndent::Document module) (@INC contains: /c/Users/adali/AppData/Local/Programs/MiKTeX 2.9/scripts /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl /usr/share/perl5/site_perl /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib/perl5/core_perl /usr/share/perl5/core_perl) at C:\Users\adali\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts/latexindent\latexindent.pl line 27.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at C:\Users\adali\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts/latexindent\latexindent.pl line 27.

(By the way latexindent.pl myfile.tex also gives the same error. And I checked my local files and there is a file called 'latexindent.pl' but not an '.exe' version. And I checked I have Perl 5v32 as well, so this is not a Perl issue.)

latexindent manual reccomends the following code, saying that ''latexindent.pl ships with a script to help with this process; if you run the following script, you should be prompted to install the appropriate modules.''

perl latexindent-module-installer.pl

When I run it, I get the warning:

Can't open perl script "latexindent-module-installer.pl": No such file or directory

I tried to use ''latex-indent-module-installer.exe'' hoping that the manual does not mention Windows version, but I get the same error.

The solution in How to use latexindent in TeXStudio on Windows? does not work as well. After I downloaded latexindent manually and put it in C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexindent I still get the error that

Can't locate LatexIndent/Document.pm in @INC (you may need to install the LatexIndent::Document module) (@INC contains: /c/Users/adali/AppData/Local/Programs/MiKTeX 2.9/scripts /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl /usr/share/perl5/site_perl /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib/perl5/core_perl /usr/share/perl5/core_perl) at C:\Users\adali\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts/latexindent\latexindent.pl line 27.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at C:\Users\adali\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts/latexindent\latexindent.pl line 27.

from the error message I surmise that latexindent does not look into the file that I put the executable into.

So it seems there are two problems.

1. Miktex does not install the latexindent package fully (The package was available in Miktex, and I even updated it once I encountered the problem)
2. latexindent does not search all the root texmf files one configures by Miktex.

Answer 1

What does not work

1. Installing it through Miktex (not even several tries of deleting and re-installing)
2. Downloading the latexindent package and putting it in a non-local texmf location.
3. running the latexindent-module-installer.
4. trying to download perl modules through CPAN

What works

1. Create a local texmf tree
2. Download the package from CTAN end delete everything except latexindent.exe and defaultSettings.yaml
3. put those two files under your local texmf tree in a folder called 'scripts'

if you still get a missing perl module error;

4. run cpan -f -i <missingmodule> from the command prompt
5. Now you can use the command latexindent.tex myfile.tex

why should we resort to a manual solution

a. Miktex does not properly install latexindent

b. latexindent-module-installer-pl does not work on windows

c. cpan does download the missing modules without force installing from command prompt.