Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError: [Errno 13]

Question

In my MacOS Mojave terminal I wanted to install a python package with pip. At the end it says:

You are using pip version 10.0.1, however version 18.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

So I wanted to update pip with the given command but I got an error:

Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 
'/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-18.0-py2.7.egg/EGG-INFO/PKG-INFO'
Consider using the `--user` option or check the permissions.

I don't really understand what to do now. Also I realized it says Python 2.7 in the error message but I have and want to use only python 3.

Answer 1

If you want to use python3+ to install the packages you need to use pip3 install package_name

And to solve the errno 13 you have to add --user at the end

pip3 install package_name --user

---

EDIT:

For any project in Python it's highly recommended to work on a Virtual environment, which is a tool that helps to keep dependencies required by different projects separate by creating isolated Python virtual environments for them.

In order to create one with python3+ you have to use the following command:

virtualenv enviroment_name -p python3

And then you work on it just by activating it:

source enviroment_name/bin/activate

Once the virtual environment is activated, the name of your virtual environment will appear on the left side of the terminal. This will let you know that the virtual environment is currently active. Now you can install dependencies related to the project in this virtual environment by just using pip.

pip install package_name

Answer 2

I changed the rights of the venv that I was working in since the permissions were missing in the virtual environment subfolders.

sudo chmod -R a+rwx testenv

Then I could install an automatically recommended package from within codium.

Mind that this loops through the rights of all folders and files in your venv. If you work in a git repository that should keep most of its file rights so that you do not spam the git log, if you have write-protected database folders, or anything else the like, you should try picking only the folders that need a change, likely the built-in modules. Check the dependencies of the package you want to install inside the code or on the net. This is not a quick workaround anymore.

Answer 3

Regarding the permissions command, try using sudo in front of your terminal command:

sudo pip install --upgrade pip

Sudo allows you to run the command with the privileges of the superuser and will install the package for the global, system-wide Python installation. Ideally, you should create a virtual environment for the project you are working on. Have a look at this

Regarding the python Try running pip as an executable like this:

python3.6 -m pip install <package>

Answer 4

To see if it's actually a problem with permissions run the following to install a package named xxx.

pip install --user xxx

for eg: to install package bcrypt run,

pip install --user bcrypt

Answer 5

I was making the same mistakes then I realized that I have created my virtual environment as root user. It was write protected, so please check whether your virtual environment is write protected. make a new venv and try again

Answer 6

The answer is in the error message. In the past you or a process did a sudo pip and that caused some of the directories under /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/... to have permissions higher than current user.

Then you did a pip install whatever which modifies a directory you don't have write access to.

So to fix it, visit the /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/... find the directory with the root or elevated permissions and either rm -rf yourpackages then reinstall the packages with your user, or just force ownership there to the user to whom ought to have access using chown -R ... or chmod -R ...

Answer 7

I had the same problem while installing numpy with pip install numpy.

Then I tried

sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip

sudo -H pip3 install numpy

It worked well for me.

Explanation : The -H (HOME) option with sudo sets the HOME environment variable to the home directory of the target user (root by default). By default, sudo does not modify HOME.

Answer 8

I got the same error when I was trying to install a package (flask-classful).
I made the mistake of installing anaconda as root. I changed the ownership of the installed anaconda folder and I could install the package successfully.

Use the command chown with option -R to recursively change ownership of the installed anaconda folder like so:

chown -R owner:group /path/to/anaconda

Here owner is your username and group is the group name.

Answer 9

This worked for me:

 python3 -m venv env
 source ./env/bin/activate
 python -m pip install package

(From Github: https://github.com/googlesamples/assistant-sdk-python/issues/236 )

Answer 10

I was running python3 -m pip install xxx

ERROR: Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/Library/Python/3.8'
Consider using the `--user` option or check the permissions.

/Library/Python/3.8 Indicates that python3 I'm using is the system wide python, and hence permission issues. Solutions involving --user flags and virtual envs are all solving this issue.

For me, using brew the most convenient:

brew install [email protected]
brew link [email protected]
which python3

After which python3 -m pip install xxx succeed without problems. Note that sudo should not be used.

The principle is the same: you are starting a new environment that is less privileged. This implies all the packages you need from the old environment need to be installed again in this new environment.

I guess use the --user flag if you don't want to reinstall everything.

Answer 11

For MacOs & Unix

Just by adding sudo to command will work, as it would run it as a superuser.

sudo pip install --upgrade pip

It is advised that you should not directly do it though - please see this post

Answer 12

try this command line below for MacOS to check user's permission.

$ sudo python -m pip install --user --upgrade pip

Answer 13

I have anaconda installed for Python 3. I also have Python2 in my mac.

python --version

gives me

Python 3.7.3

python2.7 --version

gives me

Python 2.7.10

I wanted to install pyspark package in python2, given that it was already installed in python3.

python2.7 -m pip install pyspark

gives me an error

Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pyspark' Consider using the --user option or check the permissions.

The below command solved it. Thank god I didn't have to do any config changes.

python2.7 -m pip install pyspark --user

Collecting pyspark Requirement already satisfied: py4j==0.10.7 in /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages (from pyspark) (0.10.7) Installing collected packages: pyspark Successfully installed pyspark-2.4.4 You are using pip version 18.1, however version 19.3.1 is available. You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

Answer 14

I already tried all suggestion posted in here, yet I'm still getting the errno 13,

I'm using Windows and my python version is 3.7.3

After 5 hours of trying to solve it, this step worked for me:

I try to open the command prompt by run as administrator

Answer 15

Had similar issue, got solved with

sudo chown -R myuser /Users/myuser/Library/Python/

Answer 16

I also had the same problem, I tried many different command lines, this one worked for me:

Try:

    conda install py-xgboost

That's what I got:

Collecting package metadata: done
Solving environment: done

## Package Plan ##

  environment location: /home/simplonco/anaconda3

  added / updated specs:
    - py-xgboost


The following packages will be downloaded:

    package                    |            build
    ---------------------------|-----------------
    _py-xgboost-mutex-2.0      |            cpu_0           9 KB
    ca-certificates-2019.1.23  |                0         126 KB
    certifi-2018.11.29         |           py37_0         146 KB
    conda-4.6.2                |           py37_0         1.7 MB
    libxgboost-0.80            |       he6710b0_0         3.7 MB
    mkl-2019.1                 |              144       204.6 MB
    mkl_fft-1.0.10             |   py37ha843d7b_0         169 KB
    mkl_random-1.0.2           |   py37hd81dba3_0         405 KB
    numpy-1.15.4               |   py37h7e9f1db_0          47 KB
    numpy-base-1.15.4          |   py37hde5b4d6_0         4.2 MB
    py-xgboost-0.80            |   py37he6710b0_0         1.7 MB
    scikit-learn-0.20.2        |   py37hd81dba3_0         5.7 MB
    scipy-1.2.0                |   py37h7c811a0_0        17.7 MB
    ------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Total:       240.0 MB

The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:

  _py-xgboost-mutex  pkgs/main/linux-64::_py-xgboost-mutex-2.0-cpu_0
  libxgboost         pkgs/main/linux-64::libxgboost-0.80-he6710b0_0
  py-xgboost         pkgs/main/linux-64::py-xgboost-0.80-py37he6710b0_0

The following packages will be UPDATED:

  ca-certificates     anaconda::ca-certificates-2018.12.5-0 --> pkgs/main::ca-certificates-2019.1.23-0
  mkl                                            2019.0-118 --> 2019.1-144
  mkl_fft                              1.0.4-py37h4414c95_1 --> 1.0.10-py37ha843d7b_0
  mkl_random                           1.0.1-py37h4414c95_1 --> 1.0.2-py37hd81dba3_0
  numpy                               1.15.1-py37h1d66e8a_0 --> 1.15.4-py37h7e9f1db_0
  numpy-base                          1.15.1-py37h81de0dd_0 --> 1.15.4-py37hde5b4d6_0
  scikit-learn                        0.19.2-py37h4989274_0 --> 0.20.2-py37hd81dba3_0
  scipy                                1.1.0-py37hfa4b5c9_1 --> 1.2.0-py37h7c811a0_0

The following packages will be SUPERSEDED by a higher-priority channel:

  certifi                                          anaconda --> pkgs/main
  conda                                            anaconda --> pkgs/main
  openssl                anaconda::openssl-1.1.1-h7b6447c_0 --> pkgs/main::openssl-1.1.1a-h7b6447c_0


Proceed ([y]/n)? y


Downloading and Extracting Packages
libxgboost-0.80      | 3.7 MB    | ##################################### | 100% 
mkl_random-1.0.2     | 405 KB    | ##################################### | 100% 
certifi-2018.11.29   | 146 KB    | ##################################### | 100% 
ca-certificates-2019 | 126 KB    | ##################################### | 100% 
conda-4.6.2          | 1.7 MB    | ##################################### | 100% 
mkl-2019.1           | 204.6 MB  | ##################################### | 100% 
mkl_fft-1.0.10       | 169 KB    | ##################################### | 100% 
numpy-1.15.4         | 47 KB     | ##################################### | 100% 
scipy-1.2.0          | 17.7 MB   | ##################################### | 100% 
scikit-learn-0.20.2  | 5.7 MB    | ##################################### | 100% 
py-xgboost-0.80      | 1.7 MB    | ##################################### | 100% 
_py-xgboost-mutex-2. | 9 KB      | ##################################### | 100% 
numpy-base-1.15.4    | 4.2 MB    | ##################################### | 100% 
Preparing transaction: done
Verifying transaction: done
Executing transaction: done

Answer 17

I had similar trouble in a venv on a mounted NTFS partition on linux with all the right permissions. Making sure pip ran with --ignore-installed solved it, i.e.:

python -m pip install --upgrade --ignore-installed

Answer 18

On Mac, there is no 3.7 directory or the directory 3.7 is owned by root. So, I removed that directory, create a new directory by current user, and move it there. Then installation finishes without error.

sudo rm -rf /Library/Python/3.7
mkdir 3.7
sudo mv 3.7 /Library/Python
ll /Library/Python/
pip3 install numpy

Answer 19

This also happens to me when I try to install the opencv-python package:

I can fix it with command line

python3 -m pip install {name of package} --user

When I try to install the said package, the command becomes:

python3 -m pip install opencv-python --user

Resulting in this:

Answer 20

Sometimes once you run into this error you might have to remove and recreate the virtual environment as pip will not work. The reason is that while you were trying to upgrade pip, the old version is removed with unsuccessful installation of the new one due to access permissions. Then @Gonzalo Garcia's answer is applicable.

Answer 21

sudo chown -R root:root /home/root/my_repo/venv

Answer 22

just sudo pip install packagename