Latex Starter Help: Troubleshooting Errors

[Ian_Brooks]

So i downloaded texnic center over at

http://www.toolscenter.org

then got mik tek installed

And have a friends thesis template (hahah could i be anymore spoon fed)

and yet when i try to build/compile/hit F7 with all my might

i don't get a pdf preview

am i missing something?

UPDATE

when i click build and view update - i get the following error

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5933/latexerrorsit7.jpg

 

[Kurdt]

You'll have to check that Texnic centre knows where you have your latex to pdf executable. If I recall correctly in Texnic centre you'll have to click on build > define output profiles then click on the Latex > PDF option and give it the correct path to the executable in miktex which should be something like: C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\miktex\bin\pdflatex.exe

You will need to do the same for the bibtex and makeindex options and for any other outputs you require.

 

[cristo]

Of course, your first mistake is trying to use latex in windows.. it's a lot easier in other operating systems!

Anyway, enough of my useless comments.. I'm moving this to the math and science software forum, by the way, since it fits in better there.

 

[las3rjock]

Of course, your first mistake is trying to use latex in windows.. it's a lot easier in other operating systems!

Actually, Windows has the nicest LaTeX distribution (MikTeX), but I still haven't really found a LaTeX editor for Windows that I like (TeXnicCenter feels incredibly sluggish to me, even compared with Java-based editors like Eclipse with the TeXlipse plugin).

Getting back to the original question, have you tried compiling your document from a command prompt? For you, it looks like the relevant commands would be

cd "F:\Academic\2008S2\thesis\writting the thesis\Latex stuff\thesis"
latex thesis

P.S. You misspelled the word "writing" when you named one of those directories.