Update: Comments point out that the instructions here may be dangerous. Consider using the Visual C++ 2008 Express edition or the purpose-built Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler for Python (details) and NOT using the original answer below. Original error message means the required version of Visual C++ is not installed.
For Windows installations:
While running setup.py for package installations, Python 2.7 searches for an installed Visual Studio 2008. You can trick Python to use a newer Visual Studio by setting the correct path in VS90COMNTOOLS
environment variable before calling setup.py
.
Execute the following command based on the version of Visual Studio installed:
- Visual Studio 2010 (VS10):
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS100COMNTOOLS%
- Visual Studio 2012 (VS11):
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS110COMNTOOLS%
- Visual Studio 2013 (VS12):
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS120COMNTOOLS%
- Visual Studio 2015 (VS14):
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS140COMNTOOLS%
WARNING: As noted below, this answer is unlikely to work if you are trying to compile python modules.
See Building lxml for Python 2.7 on Windows for details.