Cannot install estout package

[Mate Kaiser]

Hello everyone, I have been experiencing some issues while trying to install the estout package on my computer using Stata 17. The code I used was:

. ssc install estout

And I got the following message:

cannot write in directory C:\Users\Kaiser M�t�\ado\plus\_

(the strange symbols are just letters á and é which stata cannot read properly, since my windows language is not based on english)
This is where things started to get strange because my adopath command supplies this info:

adopath
[1] (BASE) "C:\Program Files\Stata17\ado\base/"
[2] (SITE) "C:\Program Files\Stata17\ado\site/"
[3] "."
[4] (PERSONAL) "C:\Users\Kaiser M�t�\ado\personal/"
[5] (PLUS) "C:\Users\Kaiser M�t�\ado\plus/"
[6] (OLDPLACE) "c:\ado/"

However, the plus and personal directory does not exist, the ado folders are not there. Even after putting the accessability of the Users folder to all around access, stata does not seem to be able to download the estout package. Updates work properly, and this is my personal laptop, no other users, not a university network.
I have tried manually creating these folders but the problem does not seem to be solvable. I have read all similar threads but at this point I am out of ideas. Would be greatful for some insight and help!

[William Lisowski]

The folders are intended to be created by the Stata installation process. Creating the folders by hand is an annoying process, because you have to create ado, then ado personal and ado/plus, then ado/plus/a and so on for the entire alphabet, plus a few others. I am somewhat concerned that the installation may have been troubled by the naming of your home directory.

My recommendation is that you seek the advice and assistance of the helpful people at Stata Technical Services - this problem clearly lies in their domain, and they've probably seen it before. So if someone else on Statalist doesn't have a good answer, start at

https://www.stata.com/support/tech-support/

for information on how to obtain their support.

[Barnabas Benyak]

Hi Máté,

I have faced the same issue and have gone through the exact same steps as you have.
I found a workaround today. Whenever you need to install something, change your directory using:

. sysdir set PLUS "C:\Users\Kaiser Máté\ado\plus"

Installation then works. Once the installation is done, you will probably find the ado/plus folder in your User directory.
With every new session, Stata will have trouble reading these characters in a path, but to me it seems you can always use this fix.