[MiKTeX] Error: Windows API error 5: Access is denied.

[Jerry]

While attempting to update MiKTeX, I am receiving the following error
message:

Error: Windows API error 5: Access is denied.

This is on a Win10-PRO 64bit machine. The log file is available at this
URL: https://www.seibercom.net/MiKTeX-update-Failure.log

Thanks!

[Andrei Malokostov]

Dear Jerry,

Your log-file cannot be downloaded. But I met some analogous things on
64-bit machines. There was a problem with access to MikTeX folders created
in your personal profile folder
(in Win7 itis something like c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Miktex,
c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Miktex etc.).

In my cases the problem disappeared when I deleted these directories
c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Miktex and
c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Miktex.

On Win10 machine try to find all MikTeX directories in your profile folder
and delete them.

Yours,

Andrei Malokostov

Post by Jerry
While attempting to update MiKTeX, I am receiving the following error
Error: Windows API error 5: Access is denied.
This is on a Win10-PRO 64bit machine. The log file is available at this
URL: https://www.seibercom.net/MiKTeX-update-Failure.log
Thanks!
--
Jerry
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[Jerry]

Post by Andrei Malokostov
Your log-file cannot be downloaded. But I met some analogous things on
64-bit machines. There was a problem with access to MikTeX folders
created in your personal profile folder
(in Win7 itis something like c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Miktex,
c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Miktex etc.).
In my cases the problem disappeared when I deleted these directories
c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Miktex and
c:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Miktex.
On Win10 machine try to find all MikTeX directories in your profile
folder and delete them.

I am not sure why you cannot access the log file. It works fine here.
Anyway, I did some more investigating and am 99% sure that the problem
is a corrupted C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64\mkfntmap.exe
file. I have not even been able to delete it. Nor, can I over write
it. I tried. Since that package, "miktex-mkfntmap-bin-x64-29" was only
downloaded and installed this morning, I believe it is corrupt.

[Jerry]

Post by Jerry
While attempting to update MiKTeX, I am receiving the following error
Error: Windows API error 5: Access is denied.
This is on a Win10-PRO 64bit machine. The log file is available at this
URL: https://www.seibercom.net/MiKTeX-update-Failure.log

Upon further investigation, I believe this file has become corrupt:

‪C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64\mkfntmap.exe

How can I replace it without having to reinstall MiKTeX completely?

[Andrei Malokostov]

Dear Jerry,

It is very strange that this file is corrupt. But if it is really corrupt,
there is a lot of reasons why this can happen.

If I met such problem, first of all I would restart the system: probably
this file is affected by some process, and restart could "free" this file.

The second reason is that some program tries to make something with this
file. If all else is OK, I would load Windows in the safe mode and delete
this file.

Next step is to run chkdsk.exe with options /f /r . This can take a lot of
time, but if there are some errors in the NTFS file system, this can fix
them, and then you can change the corrupt file by the good one.

And of course, you can replace it without reinstalling MikTeX: you can
download file miktex-mkfntmap-bin-x64-2.9.tar.lzma from the MikTeX
distribution and extract mkfntmap.exe from this archive (by 7-zip, for
example).

But

Post by Jerry

Post by Jerry
While attempting to update MiKTeX, I am receiving the following error
Error: Windows API error 5: Access is denied.
This is on a Win10-PRO 64bit machine. The log file is available at this
URL: https://www.seibercom.net/MiKTeX-update-Failure.log

‪C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64\mkfntmap.exe
How can I replace it without having to reinstall MiKTeX completely?
--
Jerry
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------
Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
_______________________________________________
Q: How can I leave the mailing list?
A: See http://docs.miktex.org/faq/support.html#leavingml

[Jerry]

Post by Andrei Malokostov
It is very strange that this file is corrupt. But if it is really
corrupt, there is a lot of reasons why this can happen.
probably this file is affected by some process, and restart could
"free" this file.
The second reason is that some program tries to make something with
this file. If all else is OK, I would load Windows in the safe mode
and delete this file.
Next step is to run chkdsk.exe with options /f /r . This can take a
lot of time, but if there are some errors in the NTFS file system,
this can fix them, and then you can change the corrupt file by the
good one.
And of course, you can replace it without reinstalling MikTeX: you can
download file miktex-mkfntmap-bin-x64-2.9.tar.lzma from the MikTeX
distribution and extract mkfntmap.exe from this archive (by 7-zip, for
example).

Unfortunately, it is not that easy. I could not delete the
"mkfntmap.exe" file. I needed to log in as an administrator and then
delete the file. It had to be deleted first because the system would
not allow it to be over written. I then logged in as my normal self,
and ran "MikTex Update (Admin)" from the start menu, and it proceeded to
update all the files including installing the
"miktex-mkfntmap-bin-x64-2.9.tar.lzma".

Problem solved.