Pipenv-Error: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip._internal'

Question

Today, I installed Pipenv via

pip install pipenv

As mentioned in the documentation I went to a test directory and created a new virtual environment using

pipenv shell

and tried to install a package via

pipenv install numpy

I got the following error message:

Installing numpy…
⠧
Error:  An error occurred while installing numpy!
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/florian/.local/share/virtualenvs/test-bJfQ6Jzk/bin/pip", line 7, in <module>
    from pip._internal import main
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip._internal'

This error occurs even after reinstalling pipenv, deleting all files and recreate the environment. It also had no impact if I ran pipenv install numpy inside or outside the environment.

Python 3.6.3
Pipenv 11.10.1

Thank you in advance.

Try force reinstalling pipenv. This error is encountered while updating pip too. --force-reinstall i.e. — Ganesh Kathiresan
Actually my bad, such an option ain't there. Try an update on all your packages and then reinstall, in their main repo, they say the same — Ganesh Kathiresan
I solved the problem by completely removing pip and reinstalling it. Thank you anyway for your fast responses! — Train
No problem. Edit your question to include the answer as others might benefit too. — Ganesh Kathiresan
@Train Any chance you could add the solution as an answer, then accept it? That helps keep the site tidy and avoids an answered question looking like it still needs an answer. — Ash

cedbeu cedbeu · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-18T10:12:23

I have had the same issue (python 3.5/Ubuntu 16.04LTS). Reinstalling pip with:

sudo apt install python-pip python-pip3 --reinstall

didn't solve the issue with me.

What worked in my case was reinstalling pipenv itself, from pip:

sudo pip3 install pipenv --force-reinstall

If you are running python 2.x or if your system is different than mine, you can try to replace pip3 with pip in the command:

sudo pip install pipenv --force-reinstall

Pipenv-Error: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip._internal'

3 Answers