Can't launch ytmdl on Windows

[RoyalCyan]

Bug report

Checklist

• I have searched for similar bugs in the issues.
• I will add the bug label to this issue.

Version Info

• Ytmdl version: 2023.2.28
• Youtube-dl version: 2023.3.4

How Ytmdl was installed?

I have installed it through pip with the optional packages

Console Log

PS C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> ytmdl
ytmdl : The term 'ytmdl' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included,
verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ ytmdl
+ ~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (ytmdl:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Description

After installing the ytmdl with pip i tried to execute the command "ytmdl" in Windows Powershell. But I got an error (see above).

[deepjyoti30]

Can you check if ytmdl is installed properly by doing the following:

pip freeze

Check the list to see if ytmdl is listed there. If you have grep in your powershell, you can do this instead:

pip freeze | grep -i ytmdl

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs for another 7 days. Thank you for your contributions.

[Lunar-Skies]

I'm running into the same issue. I've installed ytmdl via pip and i get the same error from powershell. I've done pip freeze and it lists ytmdl so it should be installed properly. Would appreciate any assistance if a solution has been found and this thread just wasn't updated.

[deepjyoti30]

@Lunar-Skies Seems like ytmdl is not in $PATH.

Can you do pip show ytmdl to find where ytmdl is installed to?

Once you find the path, update the path in powershell like this:

$env:PATH = $env:PATH + '<new path>'

After that try running ytmdl command again.

[Lunar-Skies]

That command showed it installed at C:\Users\<my account>\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python312\site-packages. I've updated the path in powershell with the command you gave me and $env:PATH shows it's part of PATH now however i am still getting the same error.

[deepjyoti30]

I am out of ideas here. I don't have direct access to a windows machine but seems like python cli command support for powershell is really bad.

As a side note, do you happen to have multiple python versions installed in your machine?

Only thing I can suggest you at this point is that you try using git bash or WSL.

[CaitlynMC]

Anyone have a fix for this? I am experiencing it too and none of the suggested fixes worked

[cat24max]

Stupid Windows, nothing works... Just give up, there is no fix.

[Lunar-Skies]

I decided to come back and try installing this again and I found a fix that worked for me, and hopefully will work for some of you.

For some reason Python's Scripts folder, where I found ytmdl.exe got installed to, wasn't in PATH. To fix this:
Do pip show ytmdl to get the "Location:" path, then follow that path to it's Python<version_Number> folder.
Within the Python<version_Number> folder you should find the Scripts folder which will contain ytmdl.exe.
Once you know where you're Scripts folder is You'll want to add it to PATH by doing $env:path += ';<path to your scripts folder>'

This is how it looked on my end:
pip show ytmdl gave me the Location C:\Users\<My_Account>\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\lib\site-packages
I followed that path to C:\Users\<My_Account>\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\ which contained my Scripts folder
I then add it to PATH doing $env:path += ';C:\Users\<My_Account>\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Scripts\'

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs for another 7 days. Thank you for your contributions.