Downloading and Installing LaTeX

Here are instructions for downloading and installing latex on your own computer if you use Windows. If you use another operating system (Mac OS, linux...) then the process will be different; I may be able to help you but I offer no guarantees. There are 4 programs to install: MiKTex, Ghostscript, GSView and TeXShell.

1. To install MiKTex, download the file basic-miktex-2.7.3164.exe from http://miktex.org/2.7/Setup.aspx by clicking the Download button for the "Basic MikTeX 2.7" Installer (82.33MB).
   1. Accept the conditions in the first setup dialogue (it may take quite a long time for this first dialogue box to appear).
   2. Keep the default "Anyone who uses this computer" in the second (unless you know what you're doing).
   3. In the third, change the installation directory to C: (this is important in order for TeXShell to work properly).
   4. In the fourth, keep the default options.
   5. Review your settings and click "Start". The installation takes a long time.
2. To install Ghostscript download the file gs863w32.exe from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/GPL/gpl863.htm (look at the bottom of the page under the heading "Microsoft Windows"). Use the default options in the installer.
3. To install GSView download the file gsv49w32.exe from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/get49.htm (near the top of the page). Choose the default options in the installer except: change the installation directory to C:\ghostgum (again this is important for TeXShell compatibility).
4. To install TeXShell files you need to download four files. Three of them (the TeXShell program itself and two help files) can be obtained from http://www.projectory.de/texshell/ (download WinTeXShell32.zip, the first link on the page, extract the three files and copy them to e.g. C:\Program Files\texshell\). Download the fourth file, texshell.ini, and save it in the same folder as the other three.
   1. To get a shortcut to TeXShell on your desktop, right click on the file texshell.exe on your hard drive (if Explorer is set up not to show extensions, this is the file with the TeXShell icon) and, holding the right mouse button down, drag it onto an empty area of desktop. Release the right mouse button and choose Create Shortcut here from the popup menu.
   2. If you followed the installation instructions for the other software, all of the buttons in TeXShell except perhaps the View pdf button should be correctly configured. If clicking View pdf doesn't start Acrobat reader, you need to modify the file texshell.ini (if Explorer doesn't show extensions, this is the file whose icon is a document and a cogwheel). Find the line in this file which starts "View pdf=", and replace C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe with the correct path for Adobe Reader on your system (make sure to keep the rather unusual configuration of inverted commas on the line). An easy way to find the correct path is to find a shortcut to Adobe Reader on your desktop, right-click on it, choose Properties, and copy the path given in the Target section of the dialogue box. Make sure TeXShell isn't running when you make this change, or it won't work.