I’ve installed the latest python (2.7.9) bundled with pip and setuptools for windows 32-bit. I’ve tried reinstalling pip but the problem persists.

Here’s the error after running pip --version in Administrator cmd:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "D:\Python\lib\runpy.py", line 162, in _run_module_as_main
  "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name)
 File "D:\Python\lib\runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code 
  exec code in run_globals
 File "D:\Python\Scripts\pip.exe\__main__.py", line 5, in <module>
ImportError: cannot import name main

Even though the original question seems to be from 2015, this ‘bug’ seems to affect users installing pip-10.0.0 as well.

The workaround is not to modify pip, however to change the way pip is called. Instead of calling /usr/bin/pip call pip via Python itself. For example, instead of the below:

pip install <package>

If from Python version 2 (or default Python binary is called python) do :

python -m pip install <package>

or if from Python version 3:

python3 -m pip install <package> 

The bug is found in pip 10.0.0.

In linux you need to modify file: /usr/bin/pip from:

from pip import main
if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit(main())

to this:

from pip import __main__
if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit(__main__._main())

On Ubuntu Server 16, I have the same problem with python27. Try this:

Change

from pip import main
if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit(main())

To

from pip._internal import main
if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit(main())

On Windows 10, I used the following commands to downgrade pip:

python -m pip uninstall pip
python -m pip install pip==9.0.3

This should also work on Linux and Mac too.

I had the same problem, but uninstall and reinstall with apt and pip didn’t work for me.

I saw another solution that presents a easy way to recover pip3 path:

sudo python3 -m pip uninstall pip && sudo apt install python3-pip --reinstall

i fixed the problem by reinstalling pip using get-pip.py.

1. Download get-pip from official link: https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/#upgrading-pip
2. run it using commande: python get-pip.py.

And pip is fixed and work perfectly.

On MacOS if you’ve installed python via Homebrew, change the line in /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin/pip

from

from pip.internal import main

to

from pip._internal import main

Or use this one liner: sed -i '' "s/from pip import main/from pip._internal import main/" /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin/pip

Explanation:

The issue is caused by the changes in pip version 10 moving internal namespace under main._internal and the bin script put in place by homebrew still looking it from the old place (where it used to be in version 9). Issue and some discussion https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5240

If you have a hardlink to pip in your PATH (i.e. if you have multiple python versions installed) and then you upgrade pip, you may also encounter this error.

The solution consists in creating the hardlink again. Or even better, stop using hardlinks and use softlinks.

On Windows 10, I had the same problem. PIP 19 was already installed in my system but wasn’t showing up. The error was No Module Found.

python -m pip uninstall pip
python -m pip install pip==9.0.3

Downgrading pip to 9.0.3 worked fine for me.

For those having similar trouble using pip 10 with PyCharm, download the latest version here

It works on ubuntu 16.04. Step 1:

 sudo gedit /home/user_name/.local/bin/pip

a file opens with the content:

#!/usr/bin/python

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import re
import sys

from pip import main

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.argv[0] = re.sub(r'(-script\.pyw|\.exe)?$', '', sys.argv[0])
    sys.exit(main())

Change the main to __main__ as it appears below:

#!/usr/bin/python

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import re
import sys

from pip import __main__

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.argv[0] = re.sub(r'(-script\.pyw|\.exe)?$', '', sys.argv[0])
    sys.exit(__main__._main())

Save the file and close it. And you are done!

try this

#!/usr/bin/python
# GENERATED BY DEBIAN

import sys

# Run the main entry point, similarly to how setuptools does it, but because
# we didn't install the actual entry point from setup.py, don't use the
# pkg_resources API.i
try:
    from pip import main
except ImportError:
    from pip._internal import main
if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit(main())

A simple solution that works with Ubuntu, but may fix the problem on windows too:

Just call

pip install --upgrade pip

This solved my problem in ubuntu 18.04 when trying to use python3.6:

rm -rf ~/.local/lib/python3.6

You can move the folder to another place using mv instead of deleting it too, for testing:

mv ~/.local/lib/python3.6 ./python3.6_old

Open your terminal linux.

hash -d pip

In our case, in 2020 using Python3, the solution to this problem was to move the Python installation to the cloud-init startup script which instantiated the VM.

We had been encountering this same error when we had been trying to install Python using scripts that were called by users later in the VM’s life cycle, but moving the same Python installation code to the cloud-init script eliminated this problem.