python - 'pip' is not recognized as an internal or external command

425
votes

I'm running into a weird error when trying to install Django on my computer.

This is the sequence that I typed into my command line:

C:\Python34> python get-pip.py
Requirement already up-to-date: pip in c:\python34\lib\site-packages
Cleaning up...

C:\Python34> pip install Django
'pip' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Python34> lib\site-packages\pip install Django
'lib\site-packages\pip' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

What could be causing this?

This is what I get when I type in echo %PATH%:

C:\Python34>echo %PATH%
C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-6.8.8-Q16;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client\
;C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\S
ystem32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\
Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\OpenCL SDK\2.0\bin\x86;C:\Progr
am Files (x86)\Intel\OpenCL SDK\2.0\bin\x64;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Mana
gement Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine C
omponents\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components
\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\P
rogram Files (x86)\nodejs\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Heroku\bin;C:\Program Files (x
86)\git\cmd;C:\RailsInstaller\Ruby2.0.0\bin;C:\RailsInstaller\Git\cmd;C:\RailsIn
staller\Ruby1.9.3\bin;C:\Users\Javi\AppData\Roaming\npm
30
pythondjangowindowspip
You may need to add pip to the PATH environment variable. Otherwise CMD prompt doesn't know what you're talking about – fr1tz
Hmm I'm relatively new to programming have only done some ruby on rails. Can you explain a bit more what you mean by PATH environment variable? How? – user3597950
@fr1tz I get a huge output... seemingly a really really long directory of files – user3597950
@user3597960 do you know the location of your pip installation? You need to add this location to that really really long list of directories, which is actually the PATH system variable. To add it to the PATH variable you can either use setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\pip" for example or you can add it via the control panel – fr1tz
if the path of your Python\Python37-32\Scripts is too long like mine C:\Users\IT-admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\Scripts then command terminal trim the path and won't allow the addition of full path. In this case use the 'Advance system setting' from control panel to add manually as shown in screenshot by @KarthikeyanVK in below answer – Shriganesh Kolhe

30 Answers

625
votes

You need to add the path of your pip installation to your PATH system variable. By default, pip is installed to C:\Python34\Scripts\pip (pip now comes bundled with new versions of python), so the path "C:\Python34\Scripts" needs to be added to your PATH variable.

To check if it is already in your PATH variable, type echo %PATH% at the CMD prompt

To add the path of your pip installation to your PATH variable, you can use the Control Panel or the setx command. For example:

setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Python34\Scripts"

Note: According to the official documentation, "[v]ariables set with setx variables are available in future command windows only, not in the current command window". In particular, you will need to start a new cmd.exe instance after entering the above command in order to utilize the new environment variable.

Thanks to Scott Bartell for pointing this out.

205
votes

For Windows, when you install a package, you type:

python -m pip install [packagename]
81
votes

As of now, version 3.7.3 I had a little bit of an issue with getting the right system variable.

Try this:

  1. Type start %appdata% in cmd.

  2. After that file explorer should pop up in ../AppData/Roaming.

Go back one directory and navigate to Local/Programs/Python/Python37-32/Scripts.

NOTE: The version number may be different so if you copy and paste the above file path it could not work.

After you do this you now have the correct location of your downloaded Python. Copy your file path by selecting the whole directory in the address bar.

Enter image description here

Once you do that click the start icon and navigate to the Control Panel → System and Security → System. Then click "Advanced System Settings" on the left side of the panel.

Once there, click Environment Variables on the bottom right and there will be two boxes, an upper and a lower box. In the upper box: Click on the 'Path' Variable and click Edit located on the right. Click New and paste your directory Path. It should look something like this:

Enter image description here

Click OK three times, open a new window of cmd and type: pip. See if it works.

71
votes

For me the command:

set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Python34\Scripts

worked immediately (try after echo %PATH% and you will see that your path has the value C:\Python34\Scripts).

Thanks to: Adding a directory to the PATH environment variable in Windows

35
votes

Alternate way.

If you don't want to add the PATH as the previous well written answers pointed out,

but you want to execute pip as your command then you can do that with py -m as prefix.

Given that you have to do it again and again.

eg.

py -m <command>

as in

py -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools

Also make sure to have pip and py installed

enter image description here

25
votes

The only way that worked on my Windows 10 machine was as follows:

py -3 -m pip install xxxxx
23
votes

Also, the long method - it was a last resort after trying all previous answers:

C:\python27\scripts\pip.exe install [package].whl

This after cd in directory where the wheel is located.

13
votes

As per Python 3.6 Documentation

It is possible that pip does not get installed by default. One potential fix is:

python -m ensurepip --default-pip
10
votes

Go to control Panel >> Uninstall or change Program and double click on Python XXX to modify install. Make sure PIP component is checked and install.

enter image description here

10
votes

Control Panel -> add/remove programs -> Python -> Modify -> optional Features (you can click everything) then press next -> Check "Add python to environment variables" -> Install

enter image description here

And that should solve your path issues, so jump to command prompt and you can use pip now.

10
votes

I was having the same problem just now.

After adding the proper folder (C:\Python33\Scripts) to the path, I still could not get pip to run. All it took was running pip.exe install -package- instead of pip install -package-.

8
votes

Use

set Path = `%PATH%;C:\Python34\;C:\Python27\Scripts`

Source

8
votes

Try going to Windows PowerShell or cmd prompt and typing:

python -m pip install openpyxl
8
votes

In latest version Python 3.6.2 and above, is available in

C:\Program Files (x86)\Python36-32\Scripts

You can add the path to our environment variable path as below

Enter image description here

Make sure you close your command prompt or Git after setting up your path. Also should you open your command prompt in administrator mode. This is example for Windows 10.

3
votes

Or if you are using PyCharm (2017-03-03) like me, just change directory in terminal and install:

cd C:\Users\{user}\PycharmProjects\test\venv\Scripts
pip install ..
2
votes

Most frequently it is:

in cmd.exe write

python -m pip install --user [name of your module here without brackets]
2
votes

Even I'm new to this, but pip install django worked for me.

The path should be set as where the script folder of the Python installation is, i.e.C:\Python34\Scripts.

I suppose it's because Django is a framework which is based on Python, and that's why this directory structure has to be maintained while installing.

2
votes

I have just installed Python 3.6.2.

I got the path as

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\Scripts

2
votes

In Windows, open cmd and find the location of PYTHON_HOME using where python. Now add this location to your environment variable PATH using:

set PATH=%PATH%;<PYTHON_HOME>\Scripts

Or refer to this.

In Linux, open a terminal and find the location of PYTHON_HOME using which python. Now add the PYTHON_HOME/Scripts to the PATH variable using:

PATH=$PATH:<PYTHON_HOME>\Scripts
export PATH
2
votes

You can try pip3. Something like:

pip3 install pandas
2
votes

None of these actually worked for me, but running

python -m pip install -U pip

and then adding the specified directory to the PATH as suggested got it working

1
votes

I think from Python 2.7.9 and higher pip comes pre installed and it will be in your scripts folder.

So you have to add the "scripts" folder to the path. Mine is installed in C:\Python27\Scripts. Check yours to see what your path is so that you can alter the below accordingly. Then go to PowerShell, paste the below code in PowerShell and hit Enter key. After that, reboot and your issue will be resolved.

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$env:Path;C:\Python27\Scripts", "User")
1
votes

In a Windows environment, just execute the below commands in a DOS shell.

path=%path%;D:\Program Files\python3.6.4\Scripts; (new path=current path;path of the Python script folder)

1
votes

I was facing the same issue. Run Windows PowerShell as Administrator. It resolved my issue.

Enter image description here

1
votes

For Mac, run the below command in a terminal window:

echo  export "PATH=$HOME/Library/Python/2.7/bin:$PATH"
1
votes

In your Python folder path in Terminal, just type

  py -m pip

in order to check the current version of your pip. You will also see a list of commands, you can use...

enter image description here

0
votes

I had this same issue. You just need to go to your

C:\Python27\Scripts

and add it to environment variables. After path setting just run pip.exe file on C:\Python27\Scripts and then try pip in cmd. But if nothing happens try running all pip applications like pip2.7 and pip2.exe. And pip will work like a charm.

0
votes

Small clarification: in "Windows 7 64 bit PC", after adding ...Python34\Scripts to the path variable, pip install pygame didn't work for me.

So I checked the "...Python34\Scripts" folder, it didn't have pip, but it had pip3 and pip3.4. So I ran pip3.4 install pygame .... .whl. It worked.

(Further open a command window in the same folder where you have the downloaded pygame...whl file.)

0
votes

When installing SQL 2019 Python, there are known issues for PIP which require a fix (step 7) https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/advanced-analytics/known-issues-for-sql-server-machine-learning-services?view=sql-server-ver15

pip is configured with locations that require TLS/SSL, however the ssl module in Python is not available.

Workaround
Copy the following files:

libssl-1_1-x64.dll
libcrypto-1_1-x64.dll

from the folder 
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSSQL15.MSSQLSERVER\PYTHON_SERVICES\Library\bin
to the folder 
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSSQL15.MSSQLSERVER\PYTHON_SERVICES\DLLs

Then open a new DOS command shell prompt.
0
votes

I continued to receive this error after correcting my PATH.

If your codebase requires that you have an earlier version of Python (2.7 in my case), it may have been a version prior to the existence of pip.

It's not very canonical, but installing a more recent version worked for me. (I used 2.7.13.)