pip on Windows giving the error - Unknown or unsupported command 'install'

Question

I installed pip on Windows by downloading http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pip/pip-1.0.2.tar.gz#md5=47ec6ff3f6d962696fe08d4c8264ad49 and running python setup.py install

Installation went fine with no errors.

But when I tried installing selenium package with it, it gives me the following error -

pip install -U selenium Unknown option: u Unknown or unsupported command 'install' 

Where I'm making the mistake?

Answer 1

Do you happen to have the Perl pip lying around somewhere?

Sounds like the problem described here:

https://github.com/mike-perdide/gitbuster/issues/62

To check, in Windows command prompt execute:

C:\>where pip 

This will potentially output the following:

C:\strawberry\perl\bin\pip C:\strawberry\perl\bin\pip.bat 

If so, this is your problem. Unistall Strawberry Perl or use the full path to python pip.

Answer 2

This error is because the system is finding pip.bat before it finds pip.exe.

You do NOT need to uninstall Strawberry Perl or type the whole path.

What I do is to simply type pip.exe (same number of keystrokes as apt-get) when I want to use the Python utility. This method seems to work find for me on Win7 with Python(x,y) 2.7x and Strawberry Perl installed.