0

I am pulling what is left of my hair out, exasperated and have run out of ideas, and I am hoping someone can assist! So, I originally installed python 310 and PyCharm, and some packages like xlwings and everything was working fine. The pip command was recognized and functioned when I use it to try and install a package, and xlwings worked okay when imported and ran in a script. Then I tried to install pandas but was failing to install because numpy wheel could not be built (that was the error I was getting) and in my quest to resolve this, installed Microsoft Visual Studio C++ building tools (one of the suggested solutions I found) and this resolved the issue and numpy and pandas were installed. However, I started having some performance issue with my PC (running windows 8.1) and the only way I could resolve it (well I think as the performance issue I was having has not recurred) was to system restore my PC back to the state it was before installing the MVS building tools. Since then, I have been having the following two issues:

(1) I get the error message “ ‘pip’ is not recognized as an internal or external command , operable program or batch file.” Anytime I run the pip command in command prompt or terminal.

I have python 310 with pip 21.3, pywin32 and pypiwin32 installed. One of the solutions I found suggested was to set the correct path where python scripts folder is but this did not resolve the issue.

(2) When I run xlwings, for example a simple script below just to open a work group:

import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book("StockScreener.xlsm")

I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):   
File "C:\Users\Username\Desktop\Python files\OpenExcelWB.py", line 1, in <module>
    import xlwings as xw   

File "C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\xlwings\__init__.py", line 9, in <module>
    from . import _xlwindows as xlplatform 
  
File "C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\xlwings\_xlwindows.py", line 14, in <module>
    import pywintypes 

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pywintypes'

Process finished with exit code 1

I have searched and searched for a solution for this and all I see are suggestions to install pywin32, pypiwin2, win32 which are all already installed. There is this other suggestion about copying the files pythoncom38.dll and pywintypes38.dll from C:\Users\"Your user id"\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python38\site-packages\pywin32_system32 to C:\Users\"Your user id"\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python38\site-packages\win32\lib and C:\Users\"Your user id"\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python38\site-packages\win32

By the way, I am aware my python is 310, so I looked for python 310 not python38, but I could not find these pythoncom38.dll and pywintypes38.dll files (which in my case I am assuming will be something like pythoncom310.dll and pywintypes310.dll) anywhere! And my C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Python had not a single file or folder in it (i.e. was empty). I have also uninstalled python and Pycharm and re-installed them afresh but still getting the same issues.

gnikit
  • 1,031
  • 15
  • 25
danjuma
  • 51
  • 5
  • what (1) says is either you don't have pip or that pip is not in your PATH. As for all the rest there is a lot to unpack, so you will need to be more specific what is the actual problem/error. If all else fails I would imagine installing miniconda/anaconda (or some other python distribution) would fix your problems. – gnikit Oct 19 '21 at 16:38
  • @nikjohn, I have pip installed (version 21.3). Running 'py -m pip --version' in command prompt confirms this. I also set the path using setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\Scripts. Also checked that the path is installed by looking at the System Variables and User Variables. With regards to issue (2), the error is basically that the module 'pywintypes' can't be found whilst trying to import it. Thanks – danjuma Oct 19 '21 at 16:52
  • how exactly are you calling pip in the terminal? If it was in your PATH you wouldn't be getting error (1) What is the output of `where pip`? for (2) edit your question to reflect what you are asking. In general it appears that your Python installation is somehow broken. Unless you have a reason I would suggest a fresh install. – gnikit Oct 19 '21 at 17:10
  • btw use `get-command pip` if you are using Powershell – gnikit Oct 19 '21 at 17:22
  • @nikjohn, I am using "pip install " and get the error I already quoted in the original post. The alternative I have used that works is "py -m pip install ". Like already stated, I uninstalled and fresh installed python, several times indeed. With regards to issue (2), not really sure how much clearer I can make my question - trying to run a script that calls on xlwings and getting the error 'pywintypes' not found! – danjuma Oct 19 '21 at 17:30

1 Answers1

2

After searching and searching the internet and trying all the suggestions I came across without any success, I decided to completely and thoroughly (including deleting all files and folders as well as those in the registry and temp folders) uninstall Python and PyCharm, and reinstalled them afresh. That resolved both issues! Phew!

danjuma
  • 51
  • 5