I have tried (unsuccessfully) many times to manually install a Perl module (Win32-Printer-0.9.1) found in CPAN, but not included in the PPM repository. What I know is that the module must be downloaded and decompressed. I know you have to run the MakeFile.pl that is included.
And I know nmake is involved somehow, but despite trying to follow the directions found online, I've been unable to get it to work.
I'm using ActivePerl 5.12.2 on Windows.
I really can't figure out why this would be so complicated!
I take it you're using ActivePerl. It's nice, but if you need something that's not in PPM, you're sort of stuck. Take a look at the PPM configuration. By default, it only includes the ActiveState PPM site, but you can configure it to use other repositories too. Check under the Edit->Preference menu. Then click on the "Repositories" tab. There are six other PPM repositories you can include in your list of PPM repositories. Add them in, and see if your CPAN modules are in those.
The other Perl choice for Windows is Strawberry Perl. This includes a MinGW distribution that comes with a minimally configured gcc compiler and base libraries. That allows you to use almost any module in the CPAN archive without modification.