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I just installed MikTex 2.9 and Winedt 10.3 on my work computer at the University. When I tried creating my first document in Winedt by using an old preamble that I've used before (running LaTeX first time), the following pops up: "the required file tex/latex/arabi/bblopts/cfg is missing. It is part of the following package: arabi" Then it says that the package will be installed from "Random Package Reposity", which is set by default to be the Internet. When I press next, I get an error mistake, saying it is not able to find the files (any file in reality, whatever file is the first in my preamble, more or less).

It seems to me that there is some security issue at hand, that access to the Internet is denied to MikTex by the system at my workplace. I have sent two mails to the informatics guys, but I have not received any response yet (from earlier experience that do not know much about LaTex and have not been able to help me out), so I thought I would ask here meanwhile. Could it be something else? I have found this post:

MiKTeX and babel: missing file and useless package installation required

which is one the same issue, but it did not help me much, since the accepted answer was Greek to me.

EspenJK
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1 Answers1

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Create a folder structure like this: (C:\mytexmf is only an example, choose what you want here)

 C:\mytexmf\tex\latex\babel

and put an empty file named bblopts.cfg in it

Then go to the miktex console->settings->Tab directories and add C:\mytexmf as new root.

miktex will then find this new bblopts.cfg and no longer try to download it.

Ulrike Fischer
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  • Thanks, I did that, and it seems like it worked, but now the error message changed to "the required file tex/latex/csquotes/csquotes.sty is missing. It is part of the package csquotes". So it seems like it has just moved to the next package in my preamble (csquotes is indeed right after babel). So the problem would seem to be quite general, and not related just to the bblopts.cfg file..? – EspenJK Sep 24 '18 at 14:12
  • the bblopts file is special, it is wrong that miktex tries to install it. But the csquotes package you really need. If the automatic installation doesn't work try to install it in the package section of the miktex console. It this doesn't work you can create a local repositories -- or pester your IT. – Ulrike Fischer Sep 24 '18 at 14:21
  • I went to the package manager and tried to install csquotes manually, and then I got this: "Peer certificate cannot be authenticated with given CA certificates". It really seems like it is some security issue here, blocking all attempts at non-administrator downloads...By the way, creating a local repository (I have no idea how that works right now), I guess that wouldn't get me round the problem, if it's about lacking the rights to download stuff in general? – EspenJK Sep 24 '18 at 14:50
  • Regarding the certificate problem see https://github.com/MiKTeX/miktex/issues/118. Regarding the local repository: If you can download with a browser it should work. See e.g. https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/251242/unable-to-connect-to-repository-in-miktex-2-9/284940#284940 – Ulrike Fischer Sep 24 '18 at 15:36