pip install mysqlclient returns "fatal error C1083: Cannot open file: 'mysql.h': No such file or directory

Question

Here is this issue: I attempt to install mysqlclient like so

C:\Users\amccommon349>pip install mysqlclient Collecting mysqlclient   Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ec/fd/83329b9d3e14f7344d1 cb31f128e6dbba70c5975c9e57896815dbb1988ad/mysqlclient-1.3.13.tar.gz Installing collected packages: mysqlclient   Running setup.py install for mysqlclient ... error     Complete output from command c:\users\amccommon349\appdata\local\programs\python\python36\python.exe -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='C:\\Users\\AMCCOM~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-qcgo48hf\\mysqlclient\\setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('\r\n', '\n');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, 'exec'))" install --record C:\Users\AMCCOM~1\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-q4yoftj8\install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile:  c:\users\amccommon349\appdata\local\programs\python\python36\lib\distutils\dist.py:261: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'long_description_content_type' warnings.warn(msg) running install running build running build_py creating build creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.6 copying _mysql_exceptions.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6 creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\__init__.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\compat.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\connections.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\converters.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\cursors.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\release.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb copying MySQLdb\times.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\__init__.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\CLIENT.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\CR.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\ER.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\FIELD_TYPE.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\FLAG.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants copying MySQLdb\constants\REFRESH.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.6\MySQLdb\constants running build_ext building '_mysql' extension creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.6 creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.6\Release C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.14.26428\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c/nologo/Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -Dversion_info=(1,3,13,'final',0) -D__version__=1.3.13 "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Connector C 6.1\include" -Ic:\users\amccommon349\appdata\local\programs\python\python36\include -Ic:\users\amccommon349\appdata\local\programs\python\python36\include "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.14.26428\include" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\NETFXSDK\4.6.1\include\um" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.17134.0\ucrt" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.17134.0\shared" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.17134.0\um" "-IC:\ProgramFiles (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.17134.0\winrt" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.17134.0\cppwinrt" /Tc_mysql.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.6\Release\_mysql.obj /Zl _mysql.c _mysql.c(29): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'mysql.h': No such file or directory   error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2017\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.14.26428\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2 

I made sure I had all of the files needed from visual studios build tools, I downloaded the mysql-python connector, and updated my pip and setup tools. I am a complete beginner to this and would appreciate any input as to how to go about fixing this error.

Answer 1

You can download unofficial windows binaries for your python version using https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#mysqlclient. Then install it using pip. This way you'll be able to avoid the hassle of dealing with visual studio build tools.

Just download the mysqlclient.whl file most applicable to you. I think in your case it'll be

mysqlclient‑1.3.13‑cp36‑cp36m‑win_amd64.whl

and run

pip install "path to the downloaded .whl file"