Not able to install dlib on Windows 10 and Python 3.7 - python-3.x

Question

I am trying to install OpenCV, dlib on Windows 10 on Anaconda Python 3.7.
I have installed Visual studio 2015 as prerequisite along with CMake. When I am trying to install dlib on my computer it is giving me below error. I am also not able to install OpenCV. I tried installing the dlib using .whl file. But, still no luck.
Collecting dlib
Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/1e/62/aacb236d21fbd08148b1d517d58a9d80ea31bdcd386d26f21f8b23b1eb28/dlib-19.18.0.tar.gz
Building wheels for collected packages: dlib
Building wheel for dlib (setup.py) ... error
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
command: 'C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' bdist_wheel -d 'C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-wheel-2nm313mu' --python-tag cp37
cwd: C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\
Complete output (73 lines):
running bdist_wheel
running build
running build_py
package init file 'dlib\__init__.py' not found (or not a regular file)
running build_ext
Building extension for Python 3.7.4 (default, Aug 9 2019, 18:34:13) [MSC v.1915 64 bit (AMD64)]
Invoking CMake setup: 'cmake C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\tools\python -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\lib.win-amd64-3.7 -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\python.exe -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE=C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\lib.win-amd64-3.7 -A x64'
-- Building for: Visual Studio 14 2015
-- Selecting Windows SDK version to target Windows 10.0.17763.
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:3 (project):
Failed to run MSBuild command:
C:/Program Files (x86)/MSBuild/14.0/bin/MSBuild.exe
to get the value of VCTargetsPath:
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 14.0.25420.1
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Build started 10/23/2019 9:27:01 AM.
Project "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" on node 1 (default targets).
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V140\Platforms\x64\PlatformToolsets\v140\Toolset.targets(36,5): error MSB8036: The Windows SDK version 8.1 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution". [C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj]
Done Building Project "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" (default targets) -- FAILED.
Build FAILED.
"C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" (default target) (1) ->
(Desktop_PlatformPrepareForBuild target) ->
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V140\Platforms\x64\PlatformToolsets\v140\Toolset.targets(36,5): error MSB8036: The Windows SDK version 8.1 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution". [C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj]
0 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:00.51
Exit code: 1
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "C:/Users/dbi227/AppData/Local/Temp/pip-install-9vjrsx_l/dlib/build/temp.win-amd64-3.7/Release/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\setup.py", line 261, in <module>
'Topic :: Software Development',
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\site-packages\setuptools\__init__.py", line 145, in setup
return distutils.core.setup(**attrs)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\core.py", line 148, in setup
dist.run_commands()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 966, in run_commands
self.run_command(cmd)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\site-packages\wheel\bdist_wheel.py", line 192, in run
self.run_command('build')
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command
self.distribution.run_command(command)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\command\build.py", line 135, in run
self.run_command(cmd_name)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command
self.distribution.run_command(command)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\setup.py", line 135, in run
self.build_extension(ext)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\setup.py", line 172, in build_extension
subprocess.check_call(cmake_setup, cwd=build_folder)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\subprocess.py", line 347, in check_call
raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['cmake', 'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\tools\\python', '-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\build\\lib.win-amd64-3.7', '-DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Continuum\\anaconda3\\envs\\opencv-env\\python.exe', '-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE=C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\build\\lib.win-amd64-3.7', '-A', 'x64']' returned non-zero exit status 1.
----------------------------------------
ERROR: Failed building wheel for dlib
Running setup.py clean for dlib
Failed to build dlib
Installing collected packages: dlib
Running setup.py install for dlib ... error
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
command: 'C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-3ic8n66v\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile
cwd: C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\
Complete output (75 lines):
running install
running build
running build_py
package init file 'dlib\__init__.py' not found (or not a regular file)
running build_ext
Building extension for Python 3.7.4 (default, Aug 9 2019, 18:34:13) [MSC v.1915 64 bit (AMD64)]
Invoking CMake setup: 'cmake C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\tools\python -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\lib.win-amd64-3.7 -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\python.exe -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE=C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\lib.win-amd64-3.7 -A x64'
-- Building for: Visual Studio 14 2015
-- Selecting Windows SDK version to target Windows 10.0.17763.
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:3 (project):
Failed to run MSBuild command:
C:/Program Files (x86)/MSBuild/14.0/bin/MSBuild.exe
to get the value of VCTargetsPath:
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 14.0.25420.1
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Build started 10/23/2019 9:27:03 AM.
Project "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" on node 1 (default targets).
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V140\Platforms\x64\PlatformToolsets\v140\Toolset.targets(36,5): error MSB8036: The Windows SDK version 8.1 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution". [C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj]
Done Building Project "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" (default targets) -- FAILED.
Build FAILED.
"C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" (default target) (1) ->
(Desktop_PlatformPrepareForBuild target) ->
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V140\Platforms\x64\PlatformToolsets\v140\Toolset.targets(36,5): error MSB8036: The Windows SDK version 8.1 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution". [C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\build\temp.win-amd64-3.7\Release\CMakeFiles\3.15.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj]
0 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:00.10
Exit code: 1
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "C:/Users/dbi227/AppData/Local/Temp/pip-install-9vjrsx_l/dlib/build/temp.win-amd64-3.7/Release/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\setup.py", line 261, in <module>
'Topic :: Software Development',
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\site-packages\setuptools\__init__.py", line 145, in setup
return distutils.core.setup(**attrs)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\core.py", line 148, in setup
dist.run_commands()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 966, in run_commands
self.run_command(cmd)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\install.py", line 61, in run
return orig.install.run(self)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\command\install.py", line 545, in run
self.run_command('build')
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command
self.distribution.run_command(command)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\command\build.py", line 135, in run
self.run_command(cmd_name)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command
self.distribution.run_command(command)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command
cmd_obj.run()
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\setup.py", line 135, in run
self.build_extension(ext)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\dlib\setup.py", line 172, in build_extension
subprocess.check_call(cmake_setup, cwd=build_folder)
File "C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\lib\subprocess.py", line 347, in check_call
raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['cmake', 'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\tools\\python', '-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\build\\lib.win-amd64-3.7', '-DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Continuum\\anaconda3\\envs\\opencv-env\\python.exe', '-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE=C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\build\\lib.win-amd64-3.7', '-A', 'x64']' returned non-zero exit status 1.
----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: 'C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\envs\opencv-env\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\dbi227\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-9vjrsx_l\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\dbi227\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-3ic8n66v\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile Check the logs for full command output.

Answer 1

I had the problem with anaconda channel for this package. Current version from anaconda requires Python <=3.6.
I used pip channel instead of anaconda. By
pip install dlib
Before installing via pip, please make sure that you are using current environments pip by
which pip
This should output something like /home/user_name/anaconda3/envs/env_name/bin/pip

Answer 2

I tried so many things to work with the latest version of Anaconda which is Python 3.7. However, I was unable to do so. Because none of the .whl file were compatible with Python 3.7, but with Python 3.6. So, I followed the link to downgrade the Python version to 3.6. This way spyder as well as Python would be downgraded to the 3.6 version. Once I had done so, I installed OpenCV using the below commands.
pip install opencv-python
pip install opencv-contrib-python
I installed dlib using the following command.
pip install dlib-19.8.1-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl
This successfully installed the latest version of dlib.
To check if everything got installed properly, the commands I used and the output I got on Anaconda prompt was as follows.
(py36) C:\Users\dbi227> python
Python 3.6.9 |Anaconda, Inc.| (default, Jul 30 2019, 14:00:49) [MSC v.1915 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import cv2
>>> cv2.__version__
'4.1.1'
>>> import dlib
>>> dlib.__version__
'19.8.1'
It is important to check if your iPython installation is also downgraded to 3.6 or not. For that, I got an option spyder(py36) apart from spyder(anaconda3) on my start option. Make sure you click on spyder(py36). Because that is the one where the libraries are installed. To check it, you can just type:
import cv2
import dlib
If these commands do not show any error, then the libraries are correctly installed.

Answer 3

You need to compile it. Install Visual Studio 2019 and CMake.
Then go to folder of your dlib, open the terminal and use the command
python3 setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
It will load lots of text, and then you will have a wheel file in your dist folder. Make sure your Python 3.7.2 corresponds to the dlib version.
In the end, all you need to do is pip install cp37.whl

Answer 4

No need to downgrade Python to 3.6.x
The best way to do it on Windows (if you find installing all the huge Visual Studio just to build dlib is too much overkill -- I feel so), is to create another environment in conda then install dlib. Why? Because we'll need prebuilt wheel (whl) file for Windows with:
conda install -c conda-forge dlib
and that trigger a environment checking/dependency checking, etc, packages will be upgraded/downgraded/removed/etc., and will pretty much likely will have unwanted impact to your base environment. So creating environment will save you from headaches when we have packages conflict. conda will manage the dependencies for you.

Answer 5

You can install dlib through one of .whl files available here: https://pypi.org/simple/dlib/
For example, if you want to install dlib for Windows 64 bit version and for Python 3.6 then download this dlib-19.8.1-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl
and install it
using
pip3 install dlib-19.8.1-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl
Note: Please verify the Python version and Operating system accordingly.