Python version 2.6 required, which was not found i

Question

Can't download any python Windows modules and install. I wanted to experiment with scrapy framework and stackless but unable to install due to error "Python version 2.6 required, which was not found in the registry".

Trying to install it to

Windows 7, 64 bit machine

Answer 1

This error can occur if you are installing a package with a different bitness than your Python version. To see whether your Python installation is 32- or 64-bit, see here.

Answer 2

To avoid such issues I switched to activepython and its working fine till now (fingers crossed).

The community version (read free) is here - http://www.activestate.com/activepython/downloads

Answer 3

For me this happens on a 32 bit system with activepython installed. It seams that the regs are not in HKEY_CURRENT_USER so here is what I do to fix that.

1. Export the "Python" section under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software
2. Open the export in notepad notepad. Replace "LOCAL_MACHINE" with "CURRENT_USER"
3. Since I have 2.7 installed I also had to replace "2.7" with "2.6" (make sure that you do not affect the path which points to the installation of python).
4. Over write the reg backup and run it.

Now if you run the installation of whatever package you needed it will find python. This helped in my case but be aware that it might not work for you.

Answer 4

maybe your installer is i386 and your computer is AMD64. try to find the right package!

Answer 5

Depending on the target build platforms and running architecture, Windows registry keys can be redirected for applications as Hans Passant points out here Getting Windows serial number (was: Getting MachineGuid from Registry). To get around this you can install the 32 bit version until the installer is changed to access the correct part of the registry.

Answer 6

I realize this question is a year old - but I thought I would contribute one additional bit of info in case anyone else is Googling for this answer.

The issue only crops up on Win7 64-bit when you install Python "for all users". If you install it "for just me", you should not receive these errors. It seems that a lot of installers only look under HKEY_CURRENT_USER for the required registry settings, and not under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. The page linked by APC gives details on how to manually copy the settings to HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Or here's the PowerShell command to do this: cp -rec HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Python\ HKCU:\SOFTWARE