[tex-live] "I can't find the format file `latex.fmt'!"

[Karl Berry]

    ! I can't find file `latex.ini'.

Oh, well, this is the root problem.  (Probably why the .fmt wasn't
automatically created in the first place.)  If you run 
  kpsewhich latex.ini
does it return anything?  Presumably not.  The file exists in
texmf-dist/tex/latex/config/latex.ini (under c:\tex in your case, I
guess).

Do you have a personal TEXINPUTS (or other TeX-related) environment
variable set to some stray value, by any chance?  Otherwise, what's the
result of
  kpsewhich -var-value TEXINPUTS
?  It may be necessary to edit c:\tex\texmf\web2c\texmf.cnf.
(Or maybe in texmf-var instead of texmf.)

Regards,
Karl