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I'm on a uni campus pc which is pretty locked down without admin privileges so when my document requires a particular e.g. \usepackage{enumitem} file it never downloads it. Do I have to manually search the net, find it and put it into the directory where I'm creating my LaTex file? I have many such directories, do I need copies in each?

HCAI
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  • In MiKTeX, there is a user and a admin package manager, can you use the user one? You might also want to have a look at MiKTeX documentation: Integrating Local Additions. As a last resort, there is How can I manually install a package on MiKTeX. – moewe Sep 12 '13 at 12:27
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    missing admin rights is normally not a problem, but time outs due to proxies, firewalls or vpn tunnels etc can disturb the on-the-fly installation. You could try to download the packages manually and setup a local repository: http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/16675/2388 – Ulrike Fischer Sep 12 '13 at 12:53
  • the enumitem package is a pretty "standard" one -- it's included in tex live, miktex, and all other distributions i'm familiar with. it seems like the tex installation at your uni is either old, or not a full installation. in that case, it's probably best to talk to the system administrator responsible for the tex installation and at least find out why. explain that the tex installation doesn't include files that are expected to be part of any good installation, and this will affect more users than just you. then hope that the sysadmin is sympathetic (not guaranteed). – barbara beeton Sep 12 '13 at 13:51
  • @barbarabeeton this looks like the situation. I don't believe the admin knows how it should be installed because I had to prompt them for the installation of the latex.exe and pdflatex.exe files etc. What exactly should I ask for? I've already asked for the full miktex intallation to be installed... – HCAI Sep 12 '13 at 16:36
  • unfortunately, if you're limited to a uni pc, you're in essentially a hostage situation. a full miktex installation sounds like the most effective approach here. even better would be if this could be run from a server, so anyone on the system could benefit. the miktex distribution is internally consistent, quite complete, and comes (i believe) with convenient installation tools. (i'm not a miktex user, so can't quote from experience.) hoping you're not the only latex user at the university, i suggest trying to find a sympathetic faculty member to support your request. good luck. – barbara beeton Sep 13 '13 at 16:07
  • Does a portable installation (e.g. http://miktex.org/portable) help you? Perhaps on a USB flash drive – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Sep 16 '13 at 09:21

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I have a similar Problem writing my bachelorsthesis in a company. If you don't need too much packages, the easiest way is to search them manually an store them in the folder of your .tex document.
If you have write access to the program folder, you can store them there: 

    C:\Programme\MikTex\tex\latex\... (WinXP example)

and update the database on:

    Start->MikTex->Maintenance->Settings->Refresh FNDB

The Packages are only text files, which don't need much space. If you have one folder with your standard packages just copy them in each folder.

If you search them manually, you can use:

    Google: enumitem filetype:sty

so you don't have to search in all the results.

Dominic
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