Different error messages when using pip install, pip list ect

Question

I was attempting to fix another issue when i tried to do pip uninstall scikit-learn After doing that I received red text such as:

pip install --upgrade pip
    Error checking for conflicts.
    Traceback (most recent call last):
          File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
        pip\_vendor\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 2584, in version
            return self._version
          File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
        pip\_vendor\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 2691, in __getattr__
            raise AttributeError(attr)
        AttributeError: _version

    During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\commands\install.py", line 503, in _warn_about_conflicts
        package_set, _dep_info = check_install_conflicts(to_install)
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\operations\check.py", line 108, in check_install_conflicts
        package_set, _ = create_package_set_from_installed()
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\operations\check.py", line 47, in create_package_set_from_installe
    d
        package_set[name] = PackageDetails(dist.version, dist.requires())
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_vendor\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 2589, in version
        raise ValueError(tmpl % self.PKG_INFO, self)
    ValueError: ("Missing 'Version:' header and/or METADATA file", Unknown [unknown
    version] (c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-package
    s))



C:\Users\James>pip list
    Exception:
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_vendor\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 2584, in version
        return self._version
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_vendor\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 2691, in __getattr__
        raise AttributeError(attr)
    AttributeError: _version

    During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\cli\base_command.py", line 176, in main
        status = self.run(options, args)
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\commands\list.py", line 148, in run
        self.output_package_listing(packages, options)
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\commands\list.py", line 205, in output_package_listing
        data, header = format_for_columns(packages, options)
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_internal\commands\list.py", line 271, in format_for_columns
        row = [proj.project_name, proj.version]
      File "c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\
    pip\_vendor\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 2589, in version
        raise ValueError(tmpl % self.PKG_INFO, self)
    ValueError: ("Missing 'Version:' header and/or METADATA file", Unknown [unknown
    version] (c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-package
    s))

Any advise on how I would fix this (Windows). I do not even know what to search for this error. Any advice would be a blessing!

Answer 1

A similar problem is addressed in this Issue on the pip GitHub repository.

The recommendation in your case would be to go into

c:\users\james\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages

and, for each folder that starts with "-", delete it and reinstall the corresponding package.