Borislav Hadzhiev
Wed Apr 20 2022ยท3 min read
Photo by Annie Spratt
The Python "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip'" occurs when pip
is
not installed in our Python environment. To solve the error, install the module
by running the python -m ensurepip --upgrade
command on Linux or MacOS or
py -m ensurepip --upgrade
on Windows.
Open your terminal and run the following command to install pip.
# ๐๏ธ On Linux or MacOS python -m ensurepip --upgrade # ๐๏ธ using python 3 python3 -m ensurepip --upgrade # ๐๏ธ On Windows py -m ensurepip --upgrade
The ensurepip
package enables us to bootstrap the pip
installer into an
existing Python installation or virtual environment.
If the PATH for pip
is not set up on your machine, replace pip
with
python3 -m pip
:
# ๐๏ธ make sure to use your version of Python, e.g. 3.10 python3 -m pip install requests
Alternatively, you can use the official get-pip script to install pip.
Download the script from https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py by clicking on the link, right-clicking and selecting "Save as" in your browser.
Open your terminal in the location where the get-pip.py
file is downloaded and
run the following command.
# ๐๏ธ On Linux or MacOS python get-pip.py # ๐๏ธ using python 3 python3 get-pip.py # ๐๏ธ On Windows py get-pip.py
The get-pip.py
script uses bootstrapping logic to install pip
.
If none of the suggestions helped, try to install pip
with a command that's
specific to your operating system.
# ๐๏ธ On Debian / Ubuntu sudo apt update sudo apt install python3-venv python3-pip # ๐๏ธ On MacOS brew install python # ๐๏ธ On Fedora / CentOS sudo dnf install python3-pip python3-wheel
Try upgrading pip
by running:
# ๐๏ธ on MacOS or Linux python -m pip install --upgrade pip # ๐๏ธ for Python 3 python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip # ๐๏ธ on Windows py -m pip install --upgrade pip
If the error persists, get your Python version and make sure you are installing the package using the correct Python version.
python --version
For example, my Python version is 3.10.4
, so I would install the requests
package with pip3.10 install requests
.
pip3.10 install requests # ๐๏ธ if you get permissions error sudo pip3.10 install requests
Notice that the version number corresponds to the version of Python I'm using.
If that didn't help and you're using a virtual environment, try recreating it.
# ๐๏ธ deactivate deactivate # ๐๏ธ remove the old virtual environment folder rm -rf venv # ๐๏ธ initialize a new virtual environment python3 -m venv venv # ๐๏ธ activate on Unix or MacOS source venv/bin/activate # ๐๏ธ activate on Windows (cmd.exe) venv\Scripts\activate.bat # ๐๏ธ activate on Windows (PowerShell) venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 # ๐๏ธ install the modules in your requirements.txt file pip install -r requirements.txt
Your virtual environment will use the version of Python that was used to create it.
This should work if your previous virtual environment didn't have pip
installed for some reason.
pip
from the directory where the pip.exe
file is located.First locate Python by running the following command using cmd
:
# ๐๏ธ for Windows where python # ๐๏ธ or a specific version if you have multiple installed where python3
Now open the Scripts
folder and make sure it contains the pip.exe
file.
Open your command prompt in the Scripts
directory right next to the pip.exe
file and run the following command.
pip install pip py -m pip install --upgrade pip
This one is for setting Python and pip in the PATH on Windows
:
This one is for setting Python and pip in the PATH on MacOS
and Linux
: