error installing python-pptx on windows 7 64 bit

Question

I use python 2.7.12 with updated pip

I need to install python-pptx on windows 7 64 bit machine,

I try to use pip install python-pptx and get

Command "c:\python27\python.exe -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;file='c:\users\thebea~1\appdata\local\temp\pip-build-dmvmgk\lxml\setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(file);code=f.read().replace('\r\n', '\n');f.close();exec(compile(code, file, 'exec'))" install --record c:\users\thebea~1\appdata\local\temp\pip-py7w8l-record\install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile" failed with error code 1 in c:\users\thebea~1\appdata\local\temp\pip-build-dmvmgk\lxml\

when i try to use easy install easy_install python-pptx I get error: Setup script exited with error: command 'C:\Users\thebeancounter\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\VC\Bin\amd64\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2

When i try scipy it's similar and when i install other packages it's ok, python is running and defined in the path

I found this and installed python c++ compiler for windows

And this and installed the sdk

Any ideas what's wrong here?

Does import lxml work in Python on that machine? If not I'd start with installing that from a binary distribution (32-bit IINM, even though OS is 64-bit). — scanny
The import does not work, pip install lxml also does not work, is there any straightforward to do so with python pptx directly? — thebeancounter
See if the answers to this question get you any further along. In any case, it's a frequent question, if you search on 'install lxml windows 7 64' you should find lots of resources. Note that you may need the 32-bit lxml because the default Python install for Windows may be 32-bit. — scanny

scanny scanny · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-12T18:35:16

This is a problem with the lxml install, which python-pptx depends on. Because lxml depends on compiled C code, it requires a compiler in order to install it from the source package.

The solution is to install a pre-compiled lxml package, in the form of a "wheel" (.whl file). You can get those here: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#lxml. Pick the one with the "cp*" number matching your Python version, e.g. 'cp27' for Python 2.7. Note that you may need the 32-bit lxml because the default Python install for Windows may be 32-bit.

This other answer may have additional details and if you search on 'install lxml windows 7 64' you'll find additional resources.

error installing python-pptx on windows 7 64 bit

1 Answers