Quarto doesn't recognize MikTeX install

[snhansen]

Description

I've just made a fresh installation of both Quarto and MiKTeX, but Quarto doesn't seem to detect the MiKTeX installation. The MiKTeX installation isn't the portable one and commands like latex and pdflatex are available via CLI. How can I make it detect the installation?

Here's the result of quarto check:

C:\Users\au234616>quarto check
Quarto 1.8.25
[>] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: C:\Users\au234616\AppData\Local\quarto
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.25
      Path: C:\Users\au234616\AppData\Local\Programs\Quarto\bin
      CodePage: 1252

[>] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: (not installed)
      Chromium: (not installed)

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Tex:  (not detected)

[>] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Using: Chrome found on system
      Path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
      Source: Windows Registry

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.13.7
      Path: C:/Users/au234616/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python313/python.exe
      Jupyter: 5.8.1
      Kernels: python3

[>] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[>] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.5.1
      Path: C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-45~1.1
      LibPaths:
        - C:/Users/au234616/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.5
        - C:/Program Files/R/R-4.5.1/library
      knitr: 1.50
      rmarkdown: 2.30

[>] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[mcanouil]

Could you share the path where your MikTex distribution is installed?

[cderv]

Also I opened

• Report non TeX Live distribution detected in quarto check install #13484

[snhansen]

@cderv: Thanks for looking into this. If by "being on the PATH" means that I can execute them in the terminal without specifying the entire path, then yes both pdflatex and lualatex are on the PATH. For instance,

C:\Users\au234616>lualatex
This is LuaHBTeX, Version 1.22.0 (MiKTeX 25.4)
 restricted system commands enabled.
**

but latexmk seems like a extra package that needs to be installed, so not available in the basic installation (running latexmk prompts a package installation).

[snhansen]

Oh, and it actually does compile a Quarto document to a pdf correctly using lualatex, so it seems that all is working except that the quarto check isn't reporting MiKTeX installations.

[cderv]

All good then. I am reassured. But we should definitely add the useful information in quarto check.
Sorry for that misfeature and unhelpful situation in your case.

[cscheid]

Yeah, this is really not ideal on our side.

@cderv We should also consider adding a link to our docs when we don't find tlmgr!

[cderv]

We should also consider adding a link to our docs when we don't find tlmgr!

Oh good idea !