Installing PIL (Python Imaging Library) in Win7 64 bits, Python 2.6.4

Question

I'm trying to install said library for use with Python. I tried downloading the executable installer for Windows, which runs, but says it doesn't find a Python installation. Then tried registering (http://effbot.org/zone/python-register.htm) Python, but the script says it can't register (although the keys appear in my register).

Then I tried downloading the source package: I run the setup.py build and it works, but when I run setup.py install it says the following:

running install
running build
running build_py
running build_ext
building '_imaging' extension
error: Unable to find vcvarsall.bat

What can I do?

UPDATE (May 2014): Like said by some comments and answers, PIL is currently unmantained, and the way to go now is to use Pillow (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/, pip install pillow).

Coshow

Looks like PIL is dead, use PILLOW. pip install pillow – Coumas

Answer 1

Compiling PIL on Windows x64 is apparently a bit of a pain. (Well, compiling anything on Windows is a bit of a pain in my experience. But still.) As well as PIL itself you'll need to build many dependencies. See these notes from the mailing list too.

There's an unofficial precompiled binary for x64 linked from this message, but I haven't tried it myself. Might be worth a go if you don't mind the download being from one of those slightly dodgy file-upload sites. Other than that... well, you could always give up and instead the 32-bit Python binary instead.

Heida

The file posted in the 'dodgy file-upload site' actually worked. But subsequent problems (with other libraries) are leading me to think that giving up and using a 32-bit Linux is going to be the best option. Nevertheless, your solution solves the present issue. =D – Coshow

I've had no problems with PIL (or anything much recently) on Linux 64-bit. Linux seems to be a bit further along with the x86_64 transition than Windows is, presumably due to the relative ease of recompiling open-source stuff and its prevalence on large-memory servers. – Heida

Found another one here for Py 2.7 + AMD64: christianakesson.com/2013/4615 – Coumas

These days it seems PILLOW is used instead of PIL. pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/2.1.0 – Coumas

If your compiled PIL package is a zip file (like the one at christianakesson.com/2013/4615 ), then how do you install it? I unzipped it, renamed the containing dir as PIL, and then treated it like user level code (for me, it was adding it to my django project). Worked for me. – Tucky

try with anaconda – Kanazawa

Answer 2

I found a working win7 binary here: Unofficial Windows Binaries for Python Extension Packages It's from Christoph Gohlke at UC Irvine. There are binaries for python 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 , 3.1 and 3.2 for both 32bit and 64 bit windows.

There are a whole lot of other compiled packages here, too.

Be sure to uninstall your old PILfirst. If you used easy_install: easy_install -mnX pil
And then remove the egg in python/Lib/site-packages

Be sure to remove any other failed attempts. I had moved the _image dll into Python*.*/DLLs and I had to remove it.

Demodulate

Thank you very much for this site. This really helped me a lot with many python problems under Windows 7. – Oly

+1 for you, +100 for the maintainers of this terrific repository. – Rumery

Note that PIL has now been replaced by Pillow in this repository (still seems to work the same with no code changes needed) – Cailean

Answer 3

I've just had the same problem (with Python 2.7 and PIL for this versions, but the solution should work also for 2.6) and the way to solve it is to copy all the registry keys from:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Python

to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Python

Worked for me

solution found at the address below so credits should go there: http://effbot.slinkset.com/items/Adding_Python_Information_to_the_Windows_Registry

Bedizen

the regedit + these files: lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs made it for me – Obstructionist

This is the right solution to unblock the PIL installer if you install 64-bit python and PIL is 32-bit. However, this will not let you use the native components of the module. You'll be able to open files and stuff, but you won't be able to use the module because the 64-bit python can't load a 32-bit native module. You need the 64-module from the answer below: lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#pil – Lignocellulose

Worked for me as well you really just need this key: Python\PythonCore\2.7\InstallPath – Derry

Works great (at least with PIL). An easy way to do so is to export the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\python key and then edit the file and change the paths, adding \Wow6432Node...then running the file – Cathrin

Answer 4

If you installed a win64 python, you need a win64 PIL. The official PIL download site only has win32, as far as I can tell. The win32 installer will not see your 64-bit python installation.

No amount of tinkering with permissions or redistributables will fix this. You could use the win32 python instead (the Win64 python is mutant anyhow; Microsoft decided that C 'long' should be 32 bits in their 64-bit world, so python 'ints' are only 32 bits in Win64 python).

Since sizeof(long)!=sizeof(ptr) in win64, porting C extensions can be problematic, and will not be the same as porting them to linux 64. E.g. it seems that Win64 numpy is experimental/broken whereas linux64 numpy has been fine for years. My recommendation is if you use win64, stick with win32 python. If you want 64-bit python use linux.

Bocanegra

Answer 5

I think I had a similar problem in the past, with another python library. I believe that it was a windows permission issue. Try adding "Users" to your python directory, and give them full access.

Blackford

Tried that, but no success. Tried adding 'Everyone' to C:\Python26 too, but no luck either. – Coshow

Hello @prabhatmishra, this question is from over 8 years ago, today Anaconda is indeed what I use. – Coshow

Answer 6

Make sure you have the Visual C++ Redistributable package installed on your machine.

Enlarge

I downloaded this one: microsoft.com/downloads/…, but no luck still. Did a search and could not find the file in my system, anywhere. I also read somewhere I had to install Visual C++ Express. Is this correct? – Coshow

Answer 7

Just got this error msg on my 32 bit Windows - I read the FAQ here: http://pythonware.com/products/pil/faq.htm and this sort of indicates that Windows is funny. Looked again at install pg and downloaded the Windows executable for Python26 # Python Imaging Library 1.1.7 for Python 2.6 (Windows only) - and the _imaging module gets installed when you run this. Should solve problem. So you can't just do the python setup.py install routine on: Python Imaging Library 1.1.7 Source Kit (all platforms) (November 15, 2009).

Cynthy

Answer 8

I was having the same problem so I decided to download the source kit and install it according to how you posted above...

1. Downloaded Source Kit
2. Opened command prompt on that folder and typed python setup.py build
3. Then I typed python setup.py install

It worked perfectly!

Now, some notes: when I typed python setup.py build, I saw that Microsoft Visual Studio v9.0 C compiler was being used to build everything.

So probably it's something with your compiler not correctly configured or something...

Anyways, that worked with me so thank you!

Swineherd

Answer 9

Pillow is new version

PIL-1.1.7.win-amd64-py2.x installers are available at

http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#pil

Unappealable

Answer 10

http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

press contrl F type Pillow‑2.4.0.win‑amd64‑py3.3.exe

then click and downloadd the 64 bit version

Pillow is a replacement for PIL, the Python Image Library, which provides image processing functionality and supports many file formats. Note: use from PIL import Image instead of import Image. PIL‑1.1.7.win‑amd64‑py2.5.exe PIL‑1.1.7.win32‑py2.5.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win‑amd64‑py2.6.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win‑amd64‑py2.7.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win‑amd64‑py3.2.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win‑amd64‑py3.3.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win‑amd64‑py3.4.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win32‑py2.6.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win32‑py2.7.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win32‑py3.2.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win32‑py3.3.exe Pillow‑2.4.0.win32‑py3.4.exe

Siloa