ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found. “matplotlib.pyplot”

Question

I am using the Anaconda distribution for Windows 10 (Anaconda3 specifically), and I have a large variety of packages installed, relevant packages could be python 3.5.1, numpy 1.10.4, jupyter 1.0.0 (with the client, console, and core packages), matplotlib 1.5.1 (np110py35_0), notebook 4.1.0, and uncertainties 2.4.7.1.

When I try to import matplotlib.pyplot this is what I am getting:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ImportError                               Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-1-eff513f636fd> in <module>()
----> 1 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

C:\Users\Michael\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\pyplot.py in <module>()
 34 from matplotlib import docstring
 35 from matplotlib.backend_bases import FigureCanvasBase
---> 36 from matplotlib.figure import Figure, figaspect
 37 from matplotlib.gridspec import GridSpec
 38 from matplotlib.image import imread as _imread

C:\Users\Michael\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\figure.py in <module>()
 33 from matplotlib.cbook import Stack, iterable
 34 
---> 35 from matplotlib import _image
 36 from matplotlib.image import FigureImage
 37 

C:\Users\Michael\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\_image.cp35-win_amd64.pyd in <module>()

C:\Users\Michael\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\_image.cp35-win_amd64.pyd in __bootstrap__()

C:\Users\Michael\Anaconda3\lib\imp.py in load_dynamic(name, path, file)
340         spec = importlib.machinery.ModuleSpec(
341             name=name, loader=loader, origin=path)
--> 342         return _load(spec)
343 
344 else:

ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

This error occurred while I was working with some data in the jupyter notebook. Upon starting the notebook and importing the modules I needed, the notebook was running just fine. However, at one point the notebook I had been working on had been cluttered with variables, so I decided to restart the kernel via the command bar in the top part of the notebook and run it again (a very normal thing for me to do that I have done multiple times without problems.

It might be worth noting I was using numpy, matplotlib.pyplot, and the uncertainties package at the time. When I restarted the kernel though, I got that ImportError listed above.

Before starting the notebook, I used conda update --all (as I usually do), and everything was working normally. The problem occurred after I had restarted the kernel a few times.

The solutions I have tried and have had no success with are:

restarting the jupyter notebook and loading it again
creating a new, clean jupyter notebook (.ipynb file) and attempting to use import matplotlib.pyplot as plt again
trying to revert to a more stable version of anaconda by using conda update anaconda

I am wary when it comes to re-installing Anaconda by using conda install anaconda, or uninstalling and re-installing matplotlib. I am worried it might interfere with some of my other packages, so I wanted to see if there were other options first.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

I have the exact same problem since this morning, very frustrating... — cachemoi

cachemoi cachemoi · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-09T02:26:16

I had the same problem and unfortunately only reinstalling Anaconda fixed it... For some reason I had to delete the Anaconda3 folder manually before reinstalling in order for it to work. (simply uninstalling anaconda does not delete the folder)

Hope that helps you out, best of luck.

ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found. “matplotlib.pyplot”

1 Answers