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System: Windows 10, MikTeX 2.9., WinEdt 10.2

Since yesterday I have had strange problems with my TeX system. First I started getting messages not unlike these. Then nothing would work. I always got zero pages of output. Try to reconfigure MikTeX lead to error messages such as

"Weird server reply"

So I uninstalled and reinstalled MikTeX. Everything went fine with a basic document (a single page of homework problems). Then I started updating my slide set, needing powerdot and a few other packages. I expected MikTeX to upload the missing packages on the fly like it has always been doing. But not this time.

If I start the MikTeX update wizard from within WinEdt and ask for a list of updateable packages, I will get that same error message "Weird server reply".

Any ideas? Anyone? Should I als try uninstalling/reinstalling WinEdt?

The diagnostic tool in WinEdt -> Options -> Execution modes thinks my TeX system is healthy.

If I start MikTeX Package Manager (Admin) from Windows' Start Menu the same thing happens. I locate "powerdot" and ask it to be added. The progress window tells me that it is visiting funet.fi (probably the repository closest to me), but then "weird server reply".

Jyrki Lahtonen
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1 Answers1

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It seems to me that the problems may have been caused by an error on the server side.

  • I had last used funet.fi (undoubtedly the repository closest to me), and it was somehow stuck as the default.
  • I then decided to try the next repository on the list, in my case umu.se. Then I was able to upload powerdot no problem. It seems to me that my slide set compiled ok.

Looks like this error message was caused by some problem with the default repository. Trying a different one fixed the problem.

Jyrki Lahtonen
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    Posting this here in case somebody else runs into the same problem (googling "MikTeX weird server reply" didn't give me any hits). If anyone can share more information about what may have happened, and ways of preventing this error, I will gladly upvote and accept such an answer instead. – Jyrki Lahtonen Jan 23 '18 at 14:54
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    Useful info. I dual boot Linux/Windows. On the Windows side, MikTeX is installed as "portable," and I create a zip archive from time to time. If something goes wrong during update, I can discard the working installation, and revert to the known-good, unzipped installation. –  Jan 23 '18 at 18:22