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I installed latex and LyX but constantly getting notice of "missing xxx package"

Is there a complete installation guide for lyX?

Do you think that Scientific Word is more newbie-friendly?

I use windows for latex and I installed lyX and latex from their official sites.

Sorry if this question is too newbie.

High GPA
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  • How did you install TeX? What OS are you using? – Alan Munn Jun 15 '17 at 17:20
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    MikTeX, which is, I think, the LaTeX distribution bundled with LyX, comes in two different installers. The basic installer includes just a subset of all the available packages in the main repository (http://ctan.org), whereas with the other one you can install all available packages. I think the one bundled with LyX is the basic one. You can however install missing packages via the MikTeX Package manager, which you should find in the start menu. – Torbjørn T. Jun 15 '17 at 19:25
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    Just a piece of advice: Based on your earlier questions (and the question about "newbie-friendly" in this question), I guess you're trying to use LyX because you found native LaTeX hard to use without a real-time preview. I think a better approach, rather than using LyX, may be to use an online editor like ShareLaTeX or Overleaf, as recommended by this answer. – ShreevatsaR Jun 15 '17 at 19:31
  • @ShreevatsaR You saved my life! – High GPA Jun 15 '17 at 19:54
  • @ShreevatsaR In the light of the success of your suggestion: Wasn't this a good answer? – Keks Dose Jun 15 '17 at 20:05
  • @KeksDose Well the question asks "How do I get LyX to work correctly?" so I'd be reluctant to post as an "answer" something rather orthogonal that (on top of some guesswork) says "use an online LateX editor" :-) – ShreevatsaR Jun 16 '17 at 02:06
  • @ShreevatsaR But newbies often suffer under the delusion that they had to ask a teXnical question, instead of describing their current issue with a plea for any help. So yes, I usually try to guess what the issue is behind the technical question and answer then. – Keks Dose Jun 19 '17 at 07:29
  • @KeksDose I think that's exactly what I did here, isn't it? I even looked at the previous questions of the OP to guess the underlying issue! It's the helpful thing to do, but it's just not the ideal answer to leave as the official record (e.g. a future visitor who needs "How do I get LyX to work correctly" may find this question, and find such an unrelated answer unhelpful). – ShreevatsaR Jun 19 '17 at 14:35

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From the comments I take it that you downloaded the LyX bundle with MiKTeX from here or similar. I'll just give a brief outline of my suggestions.

1. Switch to an online editor

As suggested by ShreevatsaR, this is the easiest options especially if you don't have a lot of space on your computer. Along with ShareLaTeX or Overleaf which are very popular for LaTeX, there is also Authorea (LaTeX/Markdown/HTML) or even LyX Online. Each has their own caveats such as limited storage or images or document customisation unless you are willing to pay.

2. Uninstall MikTeX, Install TeXLive then Reconfigure LyX

TeXLive contains all the major packages you need. However, it comes at the cost of a very large installation (I think mine used to be in the order of 4-5Gb). Note for some specialised use, e.g. using knitr on Windows for me, MikTeX is preferred.

After uninstalled MikTeX (as simple as going to Programs & Features on Windows), you can download TeXLive here. Once it's finished installing open up LyX and go Tools > Reconfigure.

3. Turn on Automatically Download Packages Turn on Automatically Install Packages

If I had to guess at the reason behind your problems with no other information, I would guess that you chose to not install missing packages on the fly or you are not connected to the internet. This means MikTeX can't automatically install missing packages.

If you make sure "yes" is selected and you are connected to the internet, your problems hopefully should go away. Note that MikTeX may ask for administrator privileges to install additional packages. Alternatively you can select exactly which packages to install, but if you're just starting to learn LaTeX it can be hard to know which packages are popular.

4. Go to the source: TeX

This is just added for completeness. I, possibly like many others, would recommend learning LaTeX first and then moving to LyX if you so wish. One reason is there are a lot more resources for LaTeX, another reason is it's difficult to collaborate on LyX documents and yet another reason is because a lot of the 'work arounds' in LyX rely on LaTeX code. TeXmaker or TeXworks (automatically bundled with MikTeX) are almost the defacto standards.

5. Stick with the Familiar

This is really for complete completeness since from the comments and your other questions you seem to be more after typesetting maths than typesetting documents. You could continue using Word/Pages/OpenOffice/LibreOffice and use an online equation generator such as this one to generate maths equations. If you're using LibreOffice you could use the TexMaths plugin.

Best of luck with that, High GPA

Alwin
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