How to install lxml on Windows

Question

I'm trying to install lmxl on my Windows 8.1 laptop with Python 3.4 and failing miserably.

First off, I tried the simple and obvious solution: pip install lxml. However, this didn't work. Here's what it said:

Downloading/unpacking lxml
  Running setup.py (path:C:\Users\CARTE_~1\AppData\Local\Temp\pip_build_carte_000\lxml\setup.py) egg_info for package lxml
    Building lxml version 3.4.2.
    Building without Cython.
    ERROR: b"'xslt-config' is not recognized as an internal or external command,\r\noperable program or batch file.\r\n"
    ** make sure the development packages of libxml2 and libxslt are installed **

    Using build configuration of libxslt
    C:\Python34\lib\distutils\dist.py:260: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'bugtrack_url'
      warnings.warn(msg)

    warning: no previously-included files found matching '*.py'
Installing collected packages: lxml
  Running setup.py install for lxml
    Building lxml version 3.4.2.
    Building without Cython.
    ERROR: b"'xslt-config' is not recognized as an internal or external command,\r\noperable program or batch file.\r\n"
    ** make sure the development packages of libxml2 and libxslt are installed **

    Using build configuration of libxslt
    building 'lxml.etree' extension
    C:\Python34\lib\distutils\dist.py:260: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'bugtrack_url'
      warnings.warn(msg)
    error: Unable to find vcvarsall.bat
    Complete output from command C:\Python34\python.exe -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='C:\\Users\\CARTE_~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip_build_carte_000\\lxml\\setup.py';exec(compile(getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__).read().replace('\r\n', '\n'), __file__, 'exec'))" install --record C:\Users\CARTE_~1\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-l8vvrv9g-record\install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile:
    Building lxml version 3.4.2.

Building without Cython.

ERROR: b"'xslt-config' is not recognized as an internal or external command,\r\noperable program or batch file.\r\n"

** make sure the development packages of libxml2 and libxslt are installed **



Using build configuration of libxslt

running install

running build

running build_py

creating build

creating build\lib.win32-3.4

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\builder.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\cssselect.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\doctestcompare.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\ElementInclude.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\pyclasslookup.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\sax.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\usedoctest.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\_elementpath.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\__init__.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\__init__.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\builder.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\clean.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\defs.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\diff.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\ElementSoup.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\formfill.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\html5parser.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\soupparser.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\usedoctest.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\_diffcommand.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\_html5builder.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\_setmixin.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

copying src\lxml\html\__init__.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\html

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\__init__.py -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron

copying src\lxml\lxml.etree.h -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\lxml.etree_api.h -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml

copying src\lxml\includes\c14n.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\config.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\dtdvalid.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\etreepublic.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\htmlparser.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\relaxng.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\schematron.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\tree.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\uri.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\xinclude.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\xmlerror.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\xmlparser.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\xmlschema.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\xpath.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\xslt.pxd -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\etree_defs.h -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

copying src\lxml\includes\lxml-version.h -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\includes

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\rng

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\rng\iso-schematron.rng -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\rng

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\RNG2Schtrn.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\XSD2Schtrn.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl

creating build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1\iso_abstract_expand.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1\iso_dsdl_include.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1\iso_schematron_message.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1\iso_schematron_skeleton_for_xslt1.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1\iso_svrl_for_xslt1.xsl -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1\readme.txt -> build\lib.win32-3.4\lxml\isoschematron\resources\xsl\iso-schematron-xslt1

running build_ext

building 'lxml.etree' extension

C:\Python34\lib\distutils\dist.py:260: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'bugtrack_url'

  warnings.warn(msg)

error: Unable to find vcvarsall.bat

----------------------------------------
Cleaning up...
Command C:\Python34\python.exe -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='C:\\Users\\CARTE_~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip_build_carte_000\\lxml\\setup.py';exec(compile(getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__).read().replace('\r\n', '\n'), __file__, 'exec'))" install --record C:\Users\CARTE_~1\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-l8vvrv9g-record\install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile failed with error code 1 in C:\Users\CARTE_~1\AppData\Local\Temp\pip_build_carte_000\lxml
Storing debug log for failure in C:\Users\carte_000\pip\pip.log

So then I looked on this great and helpful thing called The Internet and a lot of people have the same error of needing libxml2 and libxlst. They recommend a guy called Christoph Gohlke's page where he provides some sort of binary thingy for a bunch of packages. You can find it here (quicklink to the lxml part).

So after I gave up on trying to find libxml2 and libxslt for pip, I decided to go there, and found an absolute ton of downloads. I know I need a 64-bit one, but I have no idea which "cp" I need.

So an answer either giving me a solution on the pip method or the Gohlke index method would be great.

Answer 1

Go to this page - https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#lxml

Download the libxml which is compatible with you machine. For example, in my case, I have 64-bit intel processor with python 3.10 installed. so , I have downloaded lxml‑4.6.3‑cp310‑cp310‑win_amd64.whl .

then run -

pip install "download_path/lxml-4.6.3-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl"

Answer 2

From the distributer's website, the correct command is:

pip install lxml==3.4.4

Of course, update version number to match the latest version.

Reference: https://pypi.org/project/lxml/3.4.4/

Answer 3

I had this issue with a requirements file that listed lxml==4.2.1. However, I was able to fix the problem by updating this to lxml==4.2.5.

Answer 4

Looks like today in 2018, lxml can be installed from PyPI:

C:\Users\Administrator>"c:\Program Files\Python37\python.exe" -m pip install -U pip wheel setuptools
Collecting pip
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/c2/d7/90f34cb0d83a6c5631cf71dfe64cc1054598c843a92b400e55675cc2ac37/pip-18.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.3MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 1.3MB 3.3MB/s
Collecting wheel
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/5a/9b/6aebe9e2636d35d1a93772fa644c828303e1d5d124e8a88f156f42ac4b87/wheel-0.32.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting setuptools
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/96/06/c8ee69628191285ddddffb277bd5abdf769166e7a14b867c2a172f0175b1/setuptools-40.4.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl (569kB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 573kB 2.9MB/s
Installing collected packages: pip, wheel, setuptools
  Found existing installation: pip 10.0.1
    Uninstalling pip-10.0.1:
      Successfully uninstalled pip-10.0.1
  The script wheel.exe is installed in 'c:\Program Files\Python37\Scripts' which is not on PATH.
  Consider adding this directory to PATH or, if you prefer to suppress this warning, use --no-warn-script-location.
  Found existing installation: setuptools 39.0.1
    Uninstalling setuptools-39.0.1:
      Successfully uninstalled setuptools-39.0.1
Successfully installed pip-18.1 setuptools-40.4.3 wheel-0.32.2

C:\Users\Administrator>pip install lxml
Collecting lxml
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/d7/9d/1aa28aa9d293a816baec6c37328d6465b722b2ff3f4d1e93ed56e87813ee/lxml-4.2.5-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl (3.6MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 3.6MB 1.6MB/s
Installing collected packages: lxml
Successfully installed lxml-4.2.5

C:\Users\Administrator>python
Python 3.7.1 (v3.7.1:260ec2c36a, Oct 20 2018, 14:57:15) [MSC v.1915 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from io import BytesIO
>>> some_file_or_file_like_object = BytesIO(b"<root>data</root>")
>>> from lxml import etree
>>> tree = etree.parse(some_file_or_file_like_object)
>>> etree.tostring(tree)
b'<root>data</root>'

Answer 5

I also meet this problem recently. pip can't not work on .whl file. Instead of fixing this, i install it through .exe file. you can download it from here.Please choose the right version of your python. Hope this can help you.

Answer 6

These instructions are for Windows7 or Windows8 with Python3.4.

However, they should work for various versions as the releases of python and other respective prerequisites change/evolve:

1. Install Python3.4:
   1. Download the last release of Python3.4 from the downloads page HERE
      • Direct link for Win32 MSI installer -> HERE
   2. Simply run the MSI to install python. It will register itself in the registry, and appear in Add/REmove Programs.
   3. NOTE: my instructions that follow assume that you choose to install python to the default path of C:\python34\ when asked during the Python Installation Wizard
2. Add the C:\python33\ and C:\python34\scripts folders to the system path by adding those directories to the PATH environment variable from the Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings link (Advanced Tab) > Environmental Variables (Button).
3. Install OpenSSL:
   1. Download Win32 OpenSSL page from HERE for your version of Windows and PC architecture
   2. Download Visual C++ 2008 redistributables for your version of Windows and PC architecture
   3. Download OpenSSL for your version of Windows and architecture (the regular version, not the light one)
   4. Add the c:\openssl-win32\bin (or similar) directory to your PATH, the same way you added C:\python34 and C:\python34\scripts above.
4. Install Setuptools (get-pip.py should install Setuptools for you), but, just in case...
   1. Download ez_setup.py HERE and save it in C:\python34\scripts
   2. Run C:\python34\scripts> python ez_setup.py
5. Install PIP
   1. Download get-pip.py from HERE and save it in C:\python34\scripts
   2. Run C:\python34\scripts> python get-pip.py
6. Install LXML
   1. Download LXML 3.4.4 from HERE for your version of Windows and PC architecture
   2. Run the EXE file

Answer 7

Or you can also go to Christoph's Gohlke's Python page and then download the right lxml file. (Generally since I use python 3.4 and I have a windows, I download the lxml-3.4.4-cp34-none-win32.whl)

Go to the folder it is in. Click in the background (so nothing is selected), then leftshift + rightclick at the same time and click on open command window. Then type C:/Python34/Scripts/pip install "NAME OF THE FILE YOU JUST DOWNLOADED.whl"

In this case it would be C:/Python34/Scripts/pip install "lxml-3.4.4-cp34-none-win32.whl"

Now hit enter. This worked well for me, and after you type the quote you can also press tab and it should fill the right one for you.

Answer 8

First, following the comments, I downloaded the lxml-3.4.2-cp34-none-win_amd64.whl file and tried to open it with a pip install, but it just told me it wasn't a valid wheel file on my system or something.

Then, I downloaded the win_32 file and it worked! Maybe it's because I have an Intel processor and AMD64 is, unsurprisingly, only for AMD processors.