'pip install' is extremely slow in WSL2

[rpw138]

Environment

WSL2: Linux version 5.4.72-microsoft-standard-WSL2 (oe-user@oe-host) (gcc version 8.2.0 (GCC)) #1 SMP Wed Oct 28 23:40:43 UTC 2020

Steps to reproduce

git clone https://github.com/NVlabs/stylegan2
cd stylegan2
docker build . -t stylegan2

Expected behavior

Pip install is very fast on wsl2: Download starts immediately and is very fast

Actual behavior

Pip during docker build is very slow on wsl2 - the install hangs when downloading scipy for ~5 to 10 minutes. Also noticed similar for google drive downloads.

[Bartdoekemeijer]

You may be a variant of the slow network in WSL2 issue

[therealkenc]

install hangs when downloading scipy for ~5 to 10 minutes.

Could be /dupe #4901 or #6365, or (depending on the uncited pwd) #4197

[ghost]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists in this repository. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread.

Thanks for your report!

[ceagan]

This is not due to a slow network issue. It takes 5-10 minutes to get past something, then the installations continue at a normal pace. Download speeds are fine once the installation of packages starts.

See On WSL2 pip install virtualenv comand hangs for too long on Stack Overflow.

[krshrimali]

This is not due to a slow network issue. It takes 5-10 minutes to get past something, then the installations continue at a normal pace. Download speeds are fine once the installation of packages starts.

See On WSL2 pip install virtualenv comand hangs for too long on Stack Overflow.

Not 5-10 mins for me, but still significant waiting time. I installed Windows 11 today, and am facing this issue. Can someone please take a look?

Also, it's not the network issue, it just gets stuck for a couple of mins, and then starts installing with normal speed.

Please note that I'm using zsh (oh-my-zsh config) + anaconda for env (if this matters).

[ppaanngggg]

This is not due to a slow network issue. It takes 5-10 minutes to get past something, then the installations continue at a normal pace. Download speeds are fine once the installation of packages starts.

See On WSL2 pip install virtualenv comand hangs for too long on Stack Overflow.

thanks, solve my problem

[FlorinAndrei]

@ppaanngggg How did you solve it? That Stack Overflow page does not offer a solution.

[ppaanngggg]

@ppaanngggg How did you solve it? That Stack Overflow page does not offer a solution.

I use this command DISPLAY= pip install <packagename>

[francois-rozet]

I use this command DISPLAY= pip install <packagename>

IMHO, this is a great temporary fix, but not a good solution and the issue should be reopened.

I don't really understand the problems with keyrings and DISPLAY and X servers, but I think users should not have to play with them when installing Python packages. It should be as easy on WSL as on a true Linux OS.

[ppaanngggg]

I dont know, but it works.

I think it is a new problem after WSLg update for WSL2.

[ll7]

Where can I find more about the DISPLAY= command? It works, but I don't understand it.

[ceagan]

This command sets the environment variable DISPLAY to empty. If you are running an XServer, this environment variable enables apps to connect to the XServer to display graphical information. I don’t know the details, but presumably, pip is reading the environment variable and because it is set, it attempts to connect to the XServer and use a long timeout to do so. Since no XServer is running by default in WSL2, the connection to the server fails after awhile. Setting the environment variable to blank lets pip know that no XServer is available, so it skips trying to connect to it.

[flaccidattempts]

If its any help for this topic.
This always happens after i mount from wsl2 to C drive [from wsl2] and use cmd 'python my_script.py'.

for example.... from desktop login..

winkey + x
a 

Powershell

wsl

bash

cd /mnt/c/Users/*/Desktop/Projects/python python main.py

after exiting this windows terminal, python3-pip hangs super bad. Notably when invoking 'pip install'

[shivangsgangadia]

Was facing the same issue. However, I have XServer set up with XLaunch because I often use graphical apps. As pointed out by @ceagan , if this xserver host is running on windows, things work as fast as they should but when it is disabled, pip waits a long time for a timeout. I recommend setting up XLaunch because you might need it at some point in the future anyway.

[ntbanks]

I've seen mixed reviews on this but i moved my project from the C mount /mnt/c/Users/*/Documents.... to the actual linux file system /home/*/.... and it fixed the slow install times.

[amrohendawi]

Instead of adding DISPLAY= every time to your commands, just install a GUI for WSL2 like GWSL.

[tafia]

Isn't updating .bash_aliases enough?
something like

alias pip="DISPLAY= pip"

[bat52]

WSL2 is much slower than WSL1 when accessing files on the windows filesystem, according to what mentioned here
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/68972448/why-is-wsl-extremely-slow-when-compared-with-native-windows-npm-yarn-processing

[Anutrix]

Still facing this issue on latest version of WSL2.

I have max network speed in WSL2(pip works fine) but python -m venv venv-name is super slow so it doesn't seem network related.

[BramVanroy]

I found that my installation was very slow, too, but using the -v option it seems to hang especially at the end of the installation when it is changing the permissions for installed entrypoints. For instance, if you have tensorboard or streamlit or something like that that you can call from the command-line like streamlit run ..., such binaries are modified.

changing mode of /mnt/f/python/.venv/bin/google-oauthlib-tool to 777
changing mode of /mnt/f/python/.venv/bin/tensorboard to 777
changing mode of /mnt/f/python/.venv/bin/streamlit to 777

This takes quite a long time, at least when using /mnt/ drive. That being said, setting DISPLAY= pip install ... already made things quite a bit faster.