Python - PIP install trouble shooting - PermissionError WinError 5 Access is denied

Question

I get the following error when using PIP to either install new packages or even upgrade pip itself to the latest version  I am running pip on a windows 8 1 machine with Python 3 4   The message is telling me I don t have Administrative Permission on the files  my account is an Administrator Account    I would appreciate any thoughts on how to resolve this  as it is getting in the way of installing packages and progressing with Python   Error message   Installing collected packages  pip   Found existing installation  pip 6 0 8     Uninstalling pip-6 0 8        Removing file or directory c  program files  x86  python python34 lib site-packages pip-6 0 8 dist-info description rst       Cleaning up    Exception  Traceback  most recent call last     File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib shutil py   line 523  in move     os rename src  real dst  PermissionError   WinError 5  Access is denied   c   program files  x86   python  python34  lib  site-packages  pip-6 0 8 dist-info  description rst  - gt   C   Users  User  AppData  Local  Temp  pip-uze sc4k-uninstall  program files  x86   python  python34  lib  site-packages  pip-6 0 8 dist-info  description rst   During handling of the above exception  another exception occurred   Traceback  most recent call last     File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib site-packages pip basecommand py   line 232  in main     status   self run options  args    File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib site-packages pip commands install py   line 347  in run     root options root path    File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib site-packages pip req req set py   line 543  in install     requirement uninstall auto confirm True    File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib site-packages pip req req install py   line 667  in uninstall     paths to remove remove auto confirm    File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib site-packages pip req req uninstall py   line 126  in remove     renames path  new path    File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib site-packages pip utils   init   py   line 316  in renames     shutil move old  new    File  C  Program Files  x86  Python Python34 lib shutil py   line 536  in move     os unlink src  PermissionError   WinError 5  Access is denied   c   program files  x86   python  python34  lib  site-packages  pip-6 0 8 dist-info  description rst

User · Answer

Note that if you are installing this through Anaconda, you will need to open Anaconda as an administrator and then launch the command prompt from there.

Otherwise, you can also run "Anaconda prompt" directly as an administrator to uninstall and install packages.

User · Answer

E  Since this answer seems to have gained some popularity  I will add  doing things globally is most of the time not a great idea  Almost always the correct answer is  use a project environment where you re not installing things globally  e g  with virtualenv     For those that may run into the same issue   Run the command prompt as administrator  Having administrator permissions in the account is not always enough  In Windows  things can be run as administrator by right-clicking the executable and selecting  Run as Administrator   So  type  cmd  to the Start menu  right click cmd exe  and run it as administrator

User · Answer

python -m pip install -U pip --user   In Windows    Note  You should provide --user option  pip install -U pip --user   Linux  and MacOS   Or  Run the cmd in Administrator mode

User · Answer

TL DR   python -m pip install -U pip  then try again     I was already using a venv  virtualenv  in PyCharm   Creating it I clicked inherit global site packages checkbox  to allow packages installed via an installer to work  Now inside my venv there was no pip installed  so it would use the inherited global pip   Here is how the error went    venv  D  path to my project gt  pip install certifi    or any other package   Would fail with   PermissionError   WinError 5  Access denied   c   program files  python36  Lib  site-packages  certifi    Notice how that is the path of the system python  not the venv one  However we want it to execute in the right environment   Here some more digging    venv  D  path to my project gt  which pip  c Program Files Python36 Scripts pip   venv  D  path to my project gt  which python  d path to my project venv Scripts python   So python is using the correct path  but pip is not  Let s install pip here in the correct one as well    venv  D  path to my project gt  python -m pip install -U pip     does stuff     Successfully installed pip   Now that s better  Running the original failing command again now works  as it is using the correct pip    venv  D  path to my project gt  pip install certifi    or any other package     install noise     Successfully installed certifi-2019 9 11 chardet-3 0 4 idna-2 8 requests-2 22 0 urllib3-1 25 7

User · Answer

Do not use the command prompt in the IDE  Run the command prompt from windows as an administrator  I m sure this will solve the problem  If not  uninstall pip and reinstall the latest one directly

User · Answer

Just reinstall Python in another folder  e g  c  python  After that you won t be bothered by pip wanted administrator privileges    Windows 10 Pro x64 user

User · Answer

For those who run into this issue and running the command prompt as administrator does not work this worked for me   Since I had already tried a first time without running the cmd prompt as admin  in my c  Users  USER  AppData Local Temp folder I found it was trying to run files from the same pip-u2e7e0ad-uninstall folder  Deleting this folder from the Temp folder and retrying the installation fixed the issue for me

User · Answer

I know my answer would be weird but that s what I have experienced just now    I got the similar error when installing tensorflow package and I tried the same by opening powershell in windows as administrator but in vain   Later I found out that I was already using numpy in one of the python scripts in an active python session  So I closed the Spyder IDE and tried to install the tensorflow package by running powershell as administrator and it worked    Hope this will help somebody else like me who will open this older but useful post in upcoming days

User · Answer

I had this issue as well on Windows 10  Closing all my Jupyter Notebook sessions and re-running the pip install --upgrade commands as an administrator made the issue go away

User · Answer

Still relevant in 2018  don t install packages as admin   The by far more sensible solution is to use virtualenv to create a virtual environment directory  virtualenv dirname  and then activate that virtual environment with dirname Script Activate in Windows before running any pip commands  Or use pipenv to manage the installs for you   That way  everything gets written to dirs that you have full write permission for  without needing UAC  and without global installs for local directories

User · Answer

run command prompt as administrator and use  --user  flag eg  pip install --user --upgrade  pandas

User · Answer

I have the same error  Not sure why it happened  But I managed to upgrade by running  pip install setuptools --upgrade --ignore-installed  After that  I used a PowerShell or Command Prompt - cmd in administrator mode to install the package  pip install the-package    or easy install the-package  Also  what they have already suggested  Installing packages using pip and virtual environments   which is the best practice for new projects

User · Answer

Hi Could you try this line cmd its work for me  python -m pip install --user --upgrade pip

User · Answer

Even you run from Administrator  it may not solve the issue if the pip is installed inside another userspace  This is because Administrator doesn t own another s userspace directory  thus he can t see  go inside  the inside of the directory that is owned by somebody  Below is an exact solution    python -m pip install -U pip --user   In Windows    Note  You should provide --user option  pip install -U pip --user   Linux  and MacOS

User · Answer

Simply  Run the cmd in Administrator mode

User · Answer

I have had the same problem with anaconda on windows  It seems that there is an issu with mcAfee antivirus  If you deactivate it while running the updates or the installs  it allows you to properly run the installation

User · Answer

After seeing  You are using pip version 9 0 1  however version 10 0 1 is available  You should consider upgrading via the  python -m pip install --upgrade pip  command    I ran   pip install -U pip   and hit this error  PermissionError   WinError 5    I tried again and got   pip install -U pip ERROR  To modify pip  please run the following command  c  python36-32 python exe -m pip install -U pip   After running that exact command  it worked    For those promoting the use of virtual environments as a solution to this error  pip and virtualenv must be updated in your main install  Simply put  a virtual environment offers no solution to this problem

User · Answer

As of upgrading from pip 7 x x to 8 x x on Python 3 4  for   whl support    Wrong command  pip install --upgrade pip  can t move pip exe to temporary folder  permisson denied   OK variant  py -3 4 -m pip install --upgrade pip  do not execute pip exe

User · Answer

I ran into this issue when I was using pycharm to create and run a virtual environment - I clicked the  inherit global site packages  checkbox - deleting and recreating the venv solved the issue for me  If you used another means for creating your venv  make sure it IS NOT INHERITING global packages

[python] Python - PIP install trouble shooting - PermissionError: [WinError 5] Access is denied

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