Pip is broken, gives PermissionError: [WinError 32]

Question

I installed the python-certifi-win32 module (I'm so busy trying to fix this problem that I don't even remember why I originally installed it). Right after I installed it, though, I started getting this error when I run pip (extended error code below): PermissionError: [WinError 32] The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process: 'C:\\Users\\user1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\tmph93rz74c' When I delete the file C:\\Users\\user1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\tmph93rz74c, another file pops up in its place, just with a different random combination of letters and numbers, and the error says the new file name instead. I have no idea how to fix it, my pip hasn't been working for days. I've looked through tens of pages of google results.

Full error code:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\runpy.py", line 196, in _run_module_as_main
    return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\runpy.py", line 86, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\Scripts\pip.exe\__main__.py", line 4, in <module>
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\cli\main.py", line 9, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli.autocompletion import autocomplete
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\cli\autocompletion.py", line 10, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli.main_parser import create_main_parser
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\cli\main_parser.py", line 8, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli import cmdoptions
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\cli\cmdoptions.py", line 23, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli.parser import ConfigOptionParser
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\cli\parser.py", line 12, in <module>
    from pip._internal.configuration import Configuration, ConfigurationError
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\configuration.py", line 20, in <module>
    from pip._internal.exceptions import (
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_internal\exceptions.py", line 13, in <module>
    from pip._vendor.requests.models import Request, Response
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_vendor\requests\__init__.py", line 135, in <module>
    from . import utils
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\pip\_vendor\requests\utils.py", line 27, in <module>
    from . import certs
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\wrapt\importer.py", line 170, in exec_module
    notify_module_loaded(module)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\wrapt\decorators.py", line 470, in _synchronized
    return wrapped(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\wrapt\importer.py", line 136, in notify_module_loaded
    hook(module)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\certifi_win32\wrapt_pip.py", line 35, in apply_patches
    import certifi
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\wrapt\importer.py", line 170, in exec_module
    notify_module_loaded(module)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\wrapt\decorators.py", line 470, in _synchronized
    return wrapped(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\wrapt\importer.py", line 136, in notify_module_loaded
    hook(module)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\certifi_win32\wrapt_certifi.py", line 20, in apply_patches
    certifi_win32.wincerts.CERTIFI_PEM = certifi.where()
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\certifi\core.py", line 37, in where
    _CACERT_PATH = str(_CACERT_CTX.__enter__())
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\contextlib.py", line 135, in __enter__
    return next(self.gen)
  File "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\importlib\_common.py", line 95, in _tempfile
    os.remove(raw_path)
PermissionError: [WinError 32] The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process: 'C:\\Users\\user1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\tmph93rz74c'

Answer 1

I ran into the same problem after installing python-certifi-win32. I installed this package in the hope to solve errors caused by the self-signed certificate used by our SSL Inspection infrastructure.

To bring pip back to a running state remove python-certifi-win32 from the installation folder:

• Determine the installation path for pip packages (source):

  python -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())"
  

• Switch to the folder and delete the package's files:

  del python-certifi-win32-init.pth
  rmdir /s/q python_certifi_win32-1.6.dist-info
  

Answer 2

I could observe the same error pattern when upgrading from Python 3.9 to Python 3.10. Somehow python-certifi-win32 seems to be malfunctioning in certain scenarios then.

Andrew Leech, the author of python-certifi-win32, suggests to move on to his other project pip-system-certs . Drop-in replacing the library with pip-system-certs (PyPI link) solved all issues for me.

Answer 3

the only solution to this problem is to delete Python from control panel.Then completely delete the Python folder from the address below

windows: C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Programs\python

and linux base: /bin/python3