ImportError: DLL load failed while importing _cext: The specified module could not be found.

[PimWagemans09]

Hello its me again it seems im am cursed or something
i tried installing ctk theme builder on another laptop and ran into a problem again (a different one though)
it installs just fine but when trying to run te program i get this Exception:

PS C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder> ./ctk_theme_builder
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\\controller\ctk_theme_builder.py", line 10, in <module>
    from view.control_panel import ControlPanel
  File "C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\view\control_panel.py", line 5, in <module>
    import utils.cbtk_kit as cbtk
  File "C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\utils\cbtk_kit.py", line 12, in <module>
    from matplotlib.colors import is_color_like
  File "C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\venv\Lib\site-packages\matplotlib\__init__.py", line 272, in <module>
    _check_versions()
  File "C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\venv\Lib\site-packages\matplotlib\__init__.py", line 266, in _check_versions
    module = importlib.import_module(modname)
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\58147793\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 90, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\venv\Lib\site-packages\kiwisolver\__init__.py", line 8, in <module>
    from ._cext import (
ImportError: DLL load failed while importing _cext: The specified module could not be found.
PS C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder> ./venv/Scripts/activate
(venv) PS C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder> python --version
Python 3.12.3

i tried the solution from this stackoverflow answer (pip install msvc-runtime) but then i got the error:

ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement msvc-runtime (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for msvc-runtime

theme builder setup log
theme_builder_setup_2024-05-24_21-05-42.log

python 3.12.3
windows 10 education
ctk_theme_builder 3.1.0

[avalon60]

Hello @PimWagemans09. When you did the pip Install, did you source the virtual environment first?
venv\scripts\activate.bat

Also, where did you install (source) Python from?

[PimWagemans09]

I did activate the venv before running pip and i installed the current latest version for windows from python.org

[PimWagemans09]

i just noticed the venv pip version is 24.0 evethough the version in get-pip.py is 22.3.1 i have not run pip install --upgrade pip
is this intentional?

PS C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder> ./venv/scripts/activate
(venv) PS C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder> pip --version
pip 24.0 from C:\Users\58147793\ctk_theme_builder\venv\Lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.12)

also i now get a warning that i previously didnt when running theme_builder_setup.py:

Checking Python interpreter version...
WARNING: Python interpreter version, 3.12.3, is unsupported.
         Only Python versions between 3.8.0 and 3.11.99 are fully supported

this is weird as the documentation says 3.12 is supported

[avalon60]

The get-pip.py isn't intentional, and you can try upgrading pip.

Don't worry about the warning, it's a benign bug. 3.12 is actually supported.

I may struggle to reproduce & investigate this, as I only have Windows 11 these days.

[avalon60]

Maybe some of the suggestions here might help.

[PimWagemans09]

i tried reinstalling all the libraries is the venv as i didnt know wich one was causing the issue (and cleared the pip cache)
but that didnt help

and i checked the enviroment variables which seem to be configured correctly including sys.path in the venv:

sys.path = [
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\ctk_theme_builder',
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\python312.zip',
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\DLLs',
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\Lib',
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312',
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\ctk_theme_builder\\venv',
    'C:\\Users\\58147793\\ctk_theme_builder\\venv\\Lib\\site-packages',
]
USER_BASE: 'C:\\Users\\58147793\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python' (doesn't exist)
USER_SITE: 'C:\\Users\\58147793\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python312\\site-packages' (doesn't exist)
ENABLE_USER_SITE: False

[PimWagemans09]

i also tried installing the visual studio c++ redistributables as mentioned here which didnt work and manually installing mvsc-runtime from a .whl file wich also didnt work due to the error:

ERROR: msvc_runtime-14.34.31931-pp38-pypy38_pp73-win_amd64.whl is not a supported wheel on this platform.

all other .whl files on pypi say they're for python 3.11 so i have not tried installing them

[PimWagemans09]

running the progam outside the venv (and installing the required packages) didnt work either

[avalon60]

I can't say that I am surprised. The problem seems to be caused by an indirect dependency.

[PimWagemans09]

i tried from matplotlib.colors import is_color_like in the shell outside the venv as that module seems to be the problem and that worked just fine so its something in the venv

[PimWagemans09]

i tried importing matplotlib inside a manually recreated venv and that also caused the error so its something with matplotlib in the venv

matplot lib stopped working completely on my system inside or outside of a venv

[PimWagemans09]

i figured it out the fix was installing the visual studio redistributables but i made a mistake and downloaded the wrong version and didnt care to double check
sorry the inconvenience

[avalon60]

No problem; pleased it's sorted.