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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label formatstymy</title>
</head><body>
<h3>"Fatal format file error; I'm stymied"</h3>
<p>(La)TeX applications often fail with this error when you've been
playing with the configuration, or have just installed a new version.
<p>The format file contains the macros that define the system you want to
use: anything from the simplest (Plain TeX) all the way to the most
complicated, such as LaTeX or ConTeXt.  From the command you
issue, TeX knows which format you want.
<p>The error message
<pre>
  Fatal format file error; I'm stymied
</pre>
means that TeX itself can't understand the format you want.
Obviously, this could happen if the format file had got corrupted, but
it usually doesn't.  The commonest cause of the message, is that a new
binary has been installed in the system: no two TeX binaries on the
same machine can
understand each other's formats.  So the new version of TeX you
have just installed, won't understand the format generated by the one
you installed last year.
<p>Resolve the problem by regenerating the format; of course, this
depends on which system you are using.
<ul>
<li> On a teTeX-based system, run
<pre>
  fmtutil --all
</pre>
  or
<pre>
  fmtutil --byfmt=&lt;format name&gt;
</pre>
  to build only the format that you are interested in.
<li> On a MiKTeX system, click <code>Start</code>-&gt; 
<code>Programs</code>-&gt; 
<code>MiKTeX <em>version</em></code>-&gt; 
<code>MiKTeX Options</code>, and in the options window, click
  <code>Update now</code>.
</ul>
<p><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=formatstymy">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=formatstymy</a>
</body>