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How To Fix ‘No Module Named Pip’ Error In Python In Linux

By sk
1.1K views

I have been using Pip package manager to install and manage Python packages inside the isolated python virtual environments in my Debian Linux 11. After upgrading Debian 11 to Debian 12, the Pip package manager doesn't work. Whenever I try to use pip, I get this error - ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip'. I can't perform any tasks using Pip inside my virtual environments.

If you ever encountered with this error, here's work around to fix this error. I verified the following steps in a Debian 12 system, but I believe this should work on Linux, macOS and Windows systems.

Reasons

Here are some possible reasons for the ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip' error:

  1. OS Upgrade: During the OS upgrade, some packages might have been misconfigured or not properly upgraded.
  2. Environment Variables: The paths to your Python or pip executables might have been altered.
  3. Virtual Environment Issues: If you are using a virtual environment, it might have been affected by the system upgrade.

In my case, upgrading Debian 11 to Debian 12 could have caused some issues with my Python environment. Force reinstall of Pip solved this issue for me!

Fix the No Module Named Pip Error in Python

As I already stated, Pip refused to work after upgrading my Debian system. Here is the actual error when I try to use Pip:

$ pip3 -V
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ostechnix/Pyenv/bin/pip3", line 5, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli.main import main
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip'

I tried to list, install, update Python packages with Pip. But, none of the Pip commands work. I get the same error for all Pip commands.

The error indicates that the pip module is not available in your Python environment. Even if it is already installed, there could be a configuration issue.

If you're dealing with this issue, you need to either install Pip or forcibly reinstall it (if Pip is already installed).

If you haven't install Pip yet, please check our detailed guide in the following link:

if Pip is already installed, you should forcibly reinstall it as shown below:

Assuming you already have created a virtual environment, activate your Python virtual environment:

source <name-of-your-virtualenvironment>/bin/activate

Example:

source Pyenv/bin/activate

Replace Pyenv with your actual Python environment.

Next, download the Pip installation script. Use curl or wget to download the get-pip.py script from the official source:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py

This command will download the get-pip.py script.

Forcibly reinstall Pip using command:

python3 get-pip.py --force-reinstall

This should reinstall pip in your Python environment. If the installation is successful, you can verify it by running:

pip3 --version

Sample Output:

pip 24.2 from /home/ostechnix/Pyenv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/pip (python 3.11)

That's it! Pip should work now!

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