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I was running MikTeX's Update Wizard on my Windows 10 machine and got this error message: MiKTeX update fails due to missing mpm.exe. So, following this solution from @matthiasI tried installing miktex-mpmcli-bin package through the "Package Manager". But I got following error message. But when I went to back to Package Manager I could see the Package was installed (as shown in a snapshot below). Moeover, afterwards, the Update Wizard started working again. Question: Why then the error? Is it a bug?

Error

The operation failed for some reason.
Data: C:\Program Files (x86)\MikTeX\miktex\bin\initexmf.exe
Source: Libraries\MiKTeX\Core\Process.cpp
Line: 308
MiKTeX: 2.9
OS:.... etc. etc.

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nam
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  • I get that all the time with my non-admin updates ever since I deleted all the old roaming files. I try not to worry about it. – John Kormylo Dec 15 '16 at 05:07
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    The error message says that initexmf failed. initexmf is often called after an installation (e.g. to update the FNDB or map files). So it is quite possible that a package is installed successfully and you then get a message from the clean-up tasks. Without some more information one can not say if the message error is a problem or not. Btw: in november quite a number of package have been rearranged. So check the "critical update section" here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/108447/how-should-one-maintain-and-update-a-miktex-installation/108490#108490 – Ulrike Fischer Dec 15 '16 at 09:49
  • @UlrikeFischer I'm inclined to believe in your possible reasoning of cause of the error (thank you). The error message seems to be from clean-up tasks you pointed out - since everything went ok afterwards. Message was a bit misleading since I had to spent sometimes to figure out what to do next. Question regarding the link you provided: I've just basic installation with me the only user. Should I still use 'Synchronize' option in the Package Manager or I should avoid Synchronizing it as I may end up breaking something. – nam Dec 15 '16 at 17:00
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    You should regularly synchronize. (It doesn't change your miktex. It only makes sure that your offline package list is in sync with the online package list. This avoids problems when you try to install packages). – Ulrike Fischer Dec 15 '16 at 17:03
  • @UlrikeFischer For the benefit of other readers, you may want to make your comment as a response and I'll mark it as an Answer. – nam Dec 17 '16 at 03:28

1 Answers1

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The error message says that initexmf failed. initexmf is often called after an installation (e.g. to update the FNDB or map files). So it is quite possible that a package is installed successfully and you then get a message from the clean-up tasks (there was a time when I got them regularly due to a failing fc-cache).

Without some more information one can not say if the message error is a problem or not.

Btw: in november quite a number of package have been rearranged. So check the "critical update" section here: How should one maintain and update a MiKTeX installation?

Ulrike Fischer
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