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Update: Since summer 2015 Biber is also available trough the repositories for 64-bit MikTeX. There is no need to install Biber manually, it can be installed via the package Manager.

I am using MikTex 64 bit. Unfortunately it has no biber.exe. Is it possible to take Biber from, e.g., MikTex 32 bit? If yes, how to do that? I've heard that biber.exe needs perl library.

moewe
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Igor Kotelnikov
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  • On first run biber.exe extracts all needed files containing a rudimentary Perl interpreter into your user directory %Temp% into a folder par-… with … being a long number. Sometimes, when one observes problems with biber the only solution consists in deleting this folder. – Speravir Jan 21 '14 at 01:44
  • Since 64-bit MikTeX got its own Biber version in the meantime would you mind adding a notice to your question that the premise is no longer true? – moewe Sep 20 '15 at 12:53
  • Sorry to bother you again, but since the issue of "64-bit MikTeX does not come with Biber" has crept up a few times in the last weeks, I would really like to also display a prominent warning in the question that it is outdated and that Biber can now be installed via the package manager as expected. – moewe Oct 06 '15 at 07:49

1 Answers1

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That's fairly simple: Download miktex-biber-bin.tar.lzma from a CTAN repository (direct linked to a mirror near you) and extract the files anywhere on your computer (two steps under Windows). You get a ‘texmf’ directory containing 3 subdirectories (doc, miktex and tpm). You just have to put these 3 subdirectories under the root of your LocalTeXMF directory, and to refresh the FNDB via MiKTeX Options (‘Settings (Admin)’).

If you do not have a LocalTeXMF directory, create one first and declare it via MiKTeX Options, ‘Root’ tab, see Create a local texmf tree in MiKTeX.

Added on 09/20/2015:

MiKTeX 64 bits repositories finally got this summer a miktex-bin-biber-x64.tar.lzma file, so there is no need to make a manual installation of the 32-bit version any more: just do it through MiKTeX Package Manager if MiKTeX is already installed. For a first installation, I guess MiKTeX basic installer does it automatically.

Community
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Bernard
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  • Don't one need to add the biber path to the PATH variable? – Ulrike Fischer Jan 18 '14 at 14:18
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    I don't think so, as it is installed in \Root\miktex\bin. On my system (Windows 7 64 bit) it is not. – Bernard Jan 18 '14 at 17:15
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    It is not miktex but windows which needs to find applications. And windows doesn't use the miktex roots but the path variable. Did you actually tested your installation method? Can you call biber in a command window this way? – Ulrike Fischer Jan 20 '14 at 17:24
  • @UlrikeFischer I guess Bernard followed my instructions in Create a local texmf tree in MiKTeX, where I wrote something about this. – Speravir Jan 21 '14 at 01:45
  • @Ulrike Fischer: I'm presently using biber without a problem (testing bib style files). – Bernard Jan 21 '14 at 02:18
  • @Speravir: I've been using a local TeXMF tree for quite some years. I did more or less what you advise. However there are some minor differences on Windows 7, which I use (changes in the names of the directories). Maybe your instructions should be updated for Win 7. – Bernard Jan 21 '14 at 02:26
  • @Bernard I use Win7 myself. Could you tell me, please, what changes you refer? Perhaps in chat? – Speravir Jan 21 '14 at 02:42
  • @Speravir: It's about the additional note. The location are not very easy to understand, as one has to interpret variables, and I suspect there are small differences between Windows Vista (which I never used) and Windows 7. Anyway, under Windows 7 the complete locations normally are: C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\MiKTeX<version> for the user's config, C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\MiKTeX<version> for the user's data and C:\ProgramData\MiKTeX<version> for the common config and data. – Bernard Jan 21 '14 at 17:35
  • @Bernard I added a hint in the beginning of the additional note. C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming is %Appdata%, C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local is %LocalAppdata%, and C:\ProgramData is %AllUsersProfile%. – Speravir Jan 21 '14 at 19:05
  • Would it be possible to update this answer with the statement that Biber has finally arrived in the MikTeX repositories for 64 bit? There should be no need to do a manual install now. – moewe Sep 20 '15 at 06:40
  • @Moewe: Didn't even remember this answer… 'Tis done! Thanks. – Bernard Sep 20 '15 at 09:49