PyInstaller: "No module named Tkinter"

Question

I've built a Python (2.7) app that uses Tkinter and am trying to build a Windows7 .exe using Pyinstaller (3.2). The app works find in windows is I run it as python myapp.py, but once compiled into a pyinstaller distributable, I get this error message:

ImportError: No module named Tkinter

Just to be sure, the top of myapp.py contains:

from copy import deepcopy
import cPickle as pickle
import Tkinter as tk
from PIL import ImageTk

Checking the distribution directory, I see tk85.dll, tcl85.dll and two directories that see pertinent, tcl/ and tk/

I've found many references to secondary Tkinter dependencies, such as matplotlib which imports Tkinter itslef, but I've not found any details of a direct dependency like this.

Any ideas how to get this one working?

I converted a Python Script to exe but found PyInstaller creating problems. Try doing it using Cx_Freeze instead. It is hassle-free and works like a charm. — AR06
Don't know that one. I'll give it a try and report back once I do. — KirkD-CO
I gave cx_Freeze a try and I'm much closer. I had to throw in a couple of excludes to avoid certain package errors. Now, however, I'm stuck with a font problem. One of the packages I'm using also uses Pillow and some PIL fonts. I've found where the fonts are stored for the package, but can't quite get things set up to know they are there. I copied them directly to the build/exe directory, but no luck. I also see the section in the cx_Freeze docs about including data files, but I'm not sure how to make that work. — KirkD-CO

Repiklis Repiklis · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-22T12:53:12

Check https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/issues/1584. There is an issue with the PIL hook, which excludes the tkinter module.

One solution is to modify the hook file hook-PIL.py located in YourPythonFolder\Lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\hooks by removing the modname_tkinter from excludedimports.

Or just change the order of the import statements in your code. Do:

from PIL import ImageTk
import Tkinter as tk

PyInstaller: "No module named Tkinter"

3 Answers