[NTG-context] Re: Windows installation in my school

[NTG-context] Re: Windows installation in my school

[Max Chernoff via ntg-context]

Hi Damien,

On Tue, 2026-02-24 at 20:47 +0100, Damien Thiriet via ntg-context wrote:
> I will try tomorrow to install the ConTeXt distribution at my school
> (Windows 11), as a simple user. So far, we have texlive 2025 on several
> computers

TeX Live 2025 contains the most recent version of ConTeXt (if you've
updated it recently), so since you've already installed that, it might
be the easiest to just use the copy of ConTeXt included there.

The ConTeXt Standalone Distribution is great, but if you need LaTeX
anyways and have unusual installation requirements, TL is often the
better choice. I'm a little biased here as member of the TL team and as
the maintainer of the ConTeXt packages in TL though, so others' opinions
will likely differ.

Thanks,
-- Max
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[NTG-context] Re: Windows installation in my school

[Pablo Rodriguez via ntg-context]

On 2/24/26 20:47, Damien Thiriet via ntg-context wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I will try tomorrow to install the ConTeXt distribution at my school 
> (Windows 11), as a simple user.

Hi Damien,

I can tell you my experience, which is what I mainly do at work (for me,
but in two computers [one without any internet connection]). I do
install them as user (no administrator “privileges” for me).

You can install it by downloading and unpacking
http://lmtx.pragma-ade.nl/install-lmtx/context-win64.zip to a `context`
directory (place it in `%USERPROFILE%`, even just for installation
purposes).

Then, run `install.bat` and `mtxrun --generate` (having
`context/tex/texmf-win64/bin/` added to your `%PATH%`), and so you will
have the installation. If you plan to use LuaTeX, `context --luatex
--generate` is also required.

If you want to install modules go to `context/tex` and there run `mtxrun
--script install-modules --install --all`.

Then, you may compress `%USERPROFILE%\context` into a `.tar` or `.zip`
file. You need to do only once.

After you copy your `context.tar` to your USB memory, you may install it
in as many computers you want.

But when copied it to a computer, remove `context/tex/texmf-cache`, add
`context/tex/texmf-win64/bin/` to `%PATH%` variable and run `mtxrun
--generate` (and probably `context --luatex --generate`).

Of course, the first time you run ConTeXt on any computer, formats will
be generated (it will take longer, especially with LuaTeX).

Consider that remote or networked drives such as `Z:\` tend to be slower
than local ones. Not only when installing, but when running ConTeXt.

> 2. Download bandwidth is limited for users, so I wondered how may I 
> install as many offline as possible.

If you have a “Windows” computer elsewhere, you don’t need to do the
first download at school.

You may even run the installation in other platform (using `install
--platform=win64`), but then installing modules may be rather a mess (in
my experience).

I hope it might help,

Pablo
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[NTG-context] Re: Windows installation in my school

[Max Chernoff via ntg-context]

Hi Pablo,

On Wed, 2026-02-25 at 06:57 +0100, Pablo Rodriguez via ntg-context
wrote:
> > 2. Download bandwidth is limited for users, so I wondered how may I
> > install as many offline as possible.
>
> If you have a “Windows” computer elsewhere, you don’t need to do the
> first download at school.
>
> You may even run the installation in other platform (using `install
> --platform=win64`), but then installing modules may be rather a mess (in
> my experience).

You can install ConTeXt for any platform from any platform---I've
installed all the platforms simultaneously on my Linux server to handle
repackaging them all for TL. I also have all the modules installed, and
I don't remember that ever causing me any issues.

Thanks,
-- Max
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[NTG-context] Re: Windows installation in my school

[Pablo Rodriguez via ntg-context]

On 2/25/26 08:25, Max Chernoff via ntg-context wrote:
> Hi Pablo,
>> […]
>> You may even run the installation in other platform (using `install
>> --platform=win64`), but then installing modules may be rather a mess (in
>> my experience).
> 
> You can install ConTeXt for any platform from any platform---I've
> installed all the platforms simultaneously on my Linux server to handle
> repackaging them all for TL. I also have all the modules installed, and
> I don't remember that ever causing me any issues.

Hi Max,

I should be doing something wrong, but I was unable to run `mtxrun
--script install-modules --install --all` with the Win64 binaries in
Linux64 (which makes sense to me).

But on a second thought, I realize I may (ab)use my Linux64 `mtxrun`
binary to install the modules in the Win64 install.

I have tried and it seems to work (sorry, no Win64 here, so checking
will have to wait).

So, Damien, you may do the downloading at home from another platform
(given you have ConTeXt already installed in the OS you use 😅).

Many thanks for your help (it’s really appreciated, Max),

Pablo
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[NTG-context] Re: Windows installation in my school

[Damien Thiriet via ntg-context]

Thanks for your advices. As Max suggested, I also downloaded 
tl-install.exe on my USB stick, and decided to challenge our connections 
rather than downloading the 6 GB iso, not knowing which distro will be 
installed.

Texlive it was, since my attempt with ConTeXt distribution failed 
(install.bat was launched, but aborted quite quickly. I suspect batch 
scripts are blocked at user's level for security reasons because I had 
later the same issue with tlmgr.bat).
I managed to make a minimal install (base + context + several font 
packages); since I was almost the only one at school, it was done in 11 
minutes. But connecting with tlmgr to a server in order to install 
additional fonts took some time (10 minutes). When connected, it went 
swiftly. And this time I didn't repeat the mistake I made when I gave 
our sysadmin the instructions to install texlive on the professor's room 
computer: my $TEXMF is set on my Z:/ disk, accessible from anywhere in 
our school's network.
I also hope tl perl ant tc/tlk will spare me a perl distro installation: 
I use a lot of perl script, but based on vanilla perl.



Damien
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