Django manage.py migrate ImportError

Question

I am going through the Django tutorial (version 1.8) and when I try to create the databases for INSTALLED_APPS using the cmd python manage.py migrate

I end up getting the following Import Error:

File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 338, in execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 303, in execute
settings.INSTALLED_APPS
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 48, in __getattr__
self._setup(name)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 44, in _setup
self._wrapped = Settings(settings_module)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 92, in __init__
mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE)
File "C:\Python27\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
__import__(name)
ImportError: Import by filename is not supported.

My DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE links to the correct location ...Django\mysite\mysite\settings.py

And here is my settings.py:

# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
import os

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))


# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'iv@evv%4@c9v5@oq+o=e%=d#$z1je=o)c98cdbm3ax6h1fr%m7'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = []


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = (
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.SessionAuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
)

ROOT_URLCONF = 'mysite.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
{
    'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
    'DIRS': [],
    'APP_DIRS': True,
    'OPTIONS': {
        'context_processors': [
            'django.template.context_processors.debug',
            'django.template.context_processors.request',
            'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
            'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
        ],
    },
},
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'mysite.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
'default': {
    'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
    'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
}
}


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'America/New_York'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True


# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/static-files/

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

Answer 1

The error is not actually with INSTALLED_APPS; if you notice, the error is occurring on mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE), meaning it's unable to import your settings module.

The problem, in this case, is that your DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE needs to be a dotted Python path, rather than a filesystem path. My best guess for what you need is:

DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="mysite.mysite.settings"