Why is pydot unable to find GraphViz's executables in Windows 8?

Question

I have GraphViz 2.32 installed in Windows 8 and have added C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.32\bin to the System PATH variable. Still pydot is unable to find its executables.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#26>", line 1, in <module>
    graph.write_png('example1_graph.png')
  File "build\bdist.win32\egg\pydot.py", line 1809, in <lambda>
    lambda path, f=frmt, prog=self.prog : self.write(path, format=f, prog=prog))
  File "build\bdist.win32\egg\pydot.py", line 1911, in write
    dot_fd.write(self.create(prog, format))
  File "build\bdist.win32\egg\pydot.py", line 1953, in create
    'GraphViz\'s executables not found' )
InvocationException: GraphViz's executables not found

I found this https://code.google.com/p/pydot/issues/detail?id=65 but am unable to get the problem solved.

You can now visualize trees without installing dot with ``sklearn.tree.plot_tree`` — Andreas Mueller, May 30 '19 at 14:51

score 77 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 08 '13 at 20:26

The problem is that the path to GraphViz was not found by the pydot module as shown in the traceback:

'GraphViz\'s executables not found'

I solved this problem on my windows 7 machine by adding the GraphViz bin directory to my computer's PATH. Then restarting my python IDE to use the updated path.

Install GraphViz if you haven't already (I used the MSI download)
Get the path for gvedit.exe (for me it was "C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.34\bin\")
Add this path to the computer's PATH
One way to get to environment settings to set your path is to click on each of these button/menu options: start->computer->system properties->advanced settings->environment variables
Click Edit User path
Add this string to the end of your Variable value list (including semicolon): ;C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.34\bin
Click OK
Restart your Python IDE

In my Windows 8 system I was getting error until I realized that in Windows 8 I shouldn't use the quotation marks (") around the path. After removing them everything went nice. — srodriguex, Apr 03 '14 at 01:51
This solved my problem on my anaconda installation; faced a lot of issue trying to get 'Graphviz' installed and added as a Path variable. The 'msi' route worked, but both the 'pip', 'conda' install route failed. — Sumax, Sep 27 '19 at 18:41

score 69 · Answer 2 · answered May 07 '14 at 16:37

69

On Mac brew install graphviz solved the problem for me.

answered May 07 '14 at 16:37

nanvel

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Worked for me! Thanks! – Mikebarson Sep 08 '17 at 03:08
sudo aptitude install graphviz works respectively on ubuntu (18) – Simeon Jul 05 '18 at 13:23

score 32 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 26 '13 at 11:24

32

This happened because I had installed graphviz after I had installed pydot. Hence, pydot wasn't able to find it. Reinstalling it in the correct order solved the problem.

answered Aug 26 '13 at 11:24

web_ninja

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The order in which `pydot` and GraphViz are installed does not make a difference to whether `pydot` can find GraphViz. GraphViz executables should be in the current path, in order for `pydot` to be able to detect them. – 0 _ Sep 18 '17 at 00:51
Order does not matters :) – Akash Kandpal Jun 23 '18 at 13:21
Order does not matter – Vinay billa Oct 17 '19 at 10:05

score 25 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 18 '17 at 00:54

25

I tried adding PATH via Control Panel, but restarting the command prompt is also needed. The following also works for updating the path in a Notebook session without exiting:

import os     

os.environ["PATH"] += os.pathsep + 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Graphviz2.38/bin/'

edited Sep 18 '17 at 00:54

0 _

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answered Sep 15 '16 at 14:30

GtotheB

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You don't have to restart the whole computer, just the program that you want to use. Which is probably the command prompt you are running the notebook server from. – danio Dec 20 '16 at 16:22
It is working in windows 10 machine. Thanks for sharing this code – Student of the Digital World Nov 14 '18 at 20:56
amazing! it helped! i tried everything - but this solved it! thank you! – Luba Weissmann Feb 17 '20 at 20:08

score 20 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

20

in my case answer from Sadik pydot and graphviz error: Couldn't import dot_parser, loading of dot files will not be possible worked for me on Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS

sudo apt-get install python-pydot

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Aug 15 '14 at 02:19

naoko

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you'd better use `virtualenv` – boldnik Dec 23 '14 at 15:11

score 9 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 10 '14 at 04:34

9

You need to install from Graphviz and then just add the path of folder where you installed Graphviz and its bin directory to system environments path.

answered Jan 10 '14 at 04:34

Sanjay Bhosale

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Jayani Sumudini · Answer 7 · 2018-04-05T08:15:36.300

9

For windows 8.1 & python 2.7 , I fixed the problem by following below steps

1 . Download and install graphviz-2.38.msi https://graphviz.gitlab.io/_pages/Download/Download_windows.html

2 . Set the path variable

Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables > Path > Edit add 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.38\bin'

Restart your currently running application that requires the path

edited Apr 05 '18 at 08:15

answered Jul 29 '17 at 19:07

Jayani Sumudini

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This solved it for me. Note: as already running applications might not automatically adapt to the updated environment, you should restart any application that requires the new path (see [How do you add a windows environment variable without rebooting](https://serverfault.com/questions/8855/how-do-you-add-a-windows-environment-variable-without-rebooting)). – SND Dec 01 '17 at 07:35

score 6 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 05 '18 at 08:51

I'm working on Windows 10 with Anaconda 3.6.5. I have not admin rights, so if someone is under the circumstances like me this solution works perfectly.

The path for my graphviz is looks C:\Users\User_Name\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\Library\bin\graphviz

In Spyder or in Jupyter type the following:

import os os.environ['PATH'].split(os.pathsep) This will lists all the path in you environment. Take a look to them, if your graphviz path is not here, then go find it and copy the path, like above in my example. Then type the following: os.environ['PATH'] += os.pathsep + 'C:\\Users\\User_Name\\AppData\\Local\\Continuum\\anaconda3\\Library\\bin\\graphviz'

That's all, but note that you have to run these command every time if you restart kernel

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 15 '13 at 15:08

Add dot.exe to your path. right click my computer > advanced system settings > environment variables > high light 'path' > edit then append everything in the quotes to path ";C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.34\bin\" depending on where you installed Graphviz ofcourse.Then restart the python shell and type.

import pydot pydot.find_graphviz() Make sure there is a slash after 'bin' so it gets everything from inside the folder, I tried with out the slash and the above code returned nothing, however after adding the slash it returned the graphviz executables it needed and their paths.

I followed your instructions in Windows 10, but Windows did not add my module path (which is in google drive) to the path list even though it showed at the Window. One way to check if your path is actually added to path list is to open a new terminal and run "path". — Dr.PP, Aug 24 '17 at 02:59

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 12 '17 at 14:03

For me: (Win10, Anaconda3) Make sure you have done "conda install graphviz"

I have to add to the PATH: C:\Users\username\Anaconda3\Library\bin\graphviz

To modify PATH go to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables > Path > Edit > New

MAKE SURE TO RESTART YOUR IDE AFTER THIS. It should work

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Nov 29 '16 at 01:32

In Windows, even after installing graphviz-2.38.msi, you can add your own path in pydot.py (found under site-package folder)

 if os.sys.platform == 'win32':

    # Try and work out the equivalent of "C:\Program Files" on this
    # machine (might be on drive D:, or in a different language)
    #

    if os.environ.has_key('PROGRAMFILES'):

        # Note, we could also use the win32api to get this
        # information, but win32api may not be installed.

        path = os.path.join(os.environ['PROGRAMFILES'], 'ATT', 'GraphViz', 'bin')

    else:

        #Just in case, try the default...
        path = r"C:\PYTHON27\GraphViz\bin"  # add here.

I should notice that the else clause you've pointed is not reached always. So I added explicit path at the start of the `find_grapviz()`. Very dirty solution of course, but stupid time waste I've made while trying to get things working is so irritating. So this is in fact good hack. — dmitry, Apr 25 '17 at 11:39

score 2 · Answer 12 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

I too had the same issue and I finally resolved it by having a look at the library.

The library considers making the path set as C:\Program Files\ATT\Graphviz\bin but by default Graphviz is installed to C:\Program Files(x86)\Graphviz undergoing the 32-bit criteria hence the pydot fails in getting the required path. Simply shift the directory as required by the script and you're good to go.

P.S.:- Consider making the equivalent changes to the Environmnet Variable.

P.S.S:- Also check if Graphviz is directly under Program Files(x86) or under ATT.

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 22 '18 at 16:11

I am running a Windows 10 machine and had some problems, too. I installed graphviz via msi installer. Adding via System settings did not work for me.

I removed the installation with the msi and used chocolatey, a windows package manager. Removing the installed version is necessary, otherwise chocolatey won't install.

Now it runs fine. I would recommend doing it this way.

score 1 · Answer 14 · edited Jun 06 '18 at 08:45

Here is what I did for the above mentioned problem. I'm using windows 10 os and python 3.6.5

Install PIP by clicking here
open command prompt and type command "pip install graphviz"
go to my computer(this pc) and search with the keyword "graphviz"
open the graphviz folder and copy its path and save it in notepad
In graphviz look for the bin folder and copy the folder by right click of your mouse
now again head back to my computer and search for "pydotplus"
a folder named pydotplus is displayed. Open it and paste the copy of bin folder (of Graphviz) that you copied earlier
head to control panel>system and security> system settings> advanced settings> environmental variables> add new path
add the path that you copied in notepad and click a series of "ok"

that's it now you can enjoy using graphviz

anyone have any idea why my graphviz folder has no bin folder? only __pycache__ and the .py files — Supamee, Aug 13 '18 at 19:14

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Jan 28 '19 at 05:27

1

install Graphviz here and add its bin path solved my problem

https://graphviz.gitlab.io/_pages/Download/Download_windows.html

pip install Graphviz itself seems inadequate

answered Jan 28 '19 at 05:27

mac

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score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Apr 09 '19 at 21:20

Some things to know about graphviz:

graphviz is not only a python module, it's also a standalone program. I believe you need both to make graphviz to work.
The standalone graphviz program was originally developed by AT&T, open sourced, then abandoned. The current maintainers of the package forgot to include Windows registry entries so Python can find the program executable.
Line 620 of pydotplus\graphviz.py includes a backup path to look for graphviz if it isn't found in the registry. It uses the old ATT file path. Update the file path to what is on your machine (you will need to have administrator privileges) and graphviz should work with pydotplus.

Example:

# Just in case, try the default... path = r"C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.38\bin"

score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Sep 04 '19 at 10:14

In "pydot.py" (located in ...\Anaconda3\Lib\site-packages), replace:

def get_executable_extension():
    # type: () -> str
    if is_windows():
        return '.bat' if is_anacoda() else '.exe'
    else:
        return ''

with:

def get_executable_extension():
    # type: () -> str
    if is_windows():
        return '.exe'
    else:
        return ''

There does not seem to be any eason to add ".bat" when the system is "Windows/Anaconda" vs "Windows" and there may be no ".bat" associated with the ".exe". This seems better than adding a ".bat" for every executable pydot calls...

This worked for me, associated with another step: add the folder containing the dot.exe executable file in the path variable. — Huanfa Chen, Sep 19 '19 at 20:46

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Nov 18 '13 at 00:37

I had this issue and noticed that it was printing my PATH with two sets of double-quotes. I worked around the problem by adding the following to Line 1959 of:

C:\Anaconda\Lib\site-packages\pydot.py

self.progs[prog] = os.path.normpath(self.progs[prog][1:-1])

Obviously not the best fix but it got me through the day.

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Nov 27 '17 at 15:48

0

I found a manual solution: sudo apt-get install graphviz

graph.write('test.dot') dot -Tps test.dot -o outfile.ps

You can the files here: https://github.com/jecs89/LearningEveryDay/tree/master/GP

answered Nov 27 '17 at 15:48

jecs89

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7

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Dec 27 '17 at 01:42

Tried all installation sequence as described in all solutions/posting/blogs, finally realized anaconda was not able to read the Environment variables. Closed Anaconda and Spyder. Then opened Anaconda in Administrator mode (on Windows 64 bit OS machine) and then opened Spyder. Script worked fine with PYDOT calls.

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Mar 08 '18 at 15:36

I am not using a windows machine, I am on a linux platform. I ran across this executable-not-found issue in the context of using the python package pyAgrum for plotting bayesian networks. pyAgrum uses graphviz to plot the networks. I installed pyagrum and graphviz using the anaconda platform in a python 3.6.4 environment (i.e. conda install <package name>).

I found the executables in /conda/envs/<environment name>/bin directory. So, it was just a matter of getting my notebook kernel to find them.

If you import os, use the command os.environ['PATH'].split(os.pathsep) to see the executable paths in which your environment is looking. If the path containing your graphviz executables isn't in there, you can add it by doing the following: os.environ['PATH'] += os.pathsep + <path to executables>.

I imagine this solution will work outside of my context. The main downside to this solution is that you need to do it every time you restart the kernel.

score 0 · Answer 22 · edited Apr 05 '19 at 08:44

you can use pydotplus instead of pydot.then follow the belows:

First, find C:\Users\zhangqianyuan\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\Lib\site-packages\pydotplus

Second, open graphviz.py

Third, find line 1925 - line 1972, find the function def create(self, prog=None, format='ps'):

Final, in the function:

find:

if prog not in self.progs:
    raise InvocationException(
        'GraphViz\'s executable "%s" not found' % prog)

`

if not os.path.exists(self.progs[prog]) or \
        not os.path.isfile(self.progs[prog]):
    raise InvocationException(
        'GraphViz\'s executable "{}" is not'
        ' a file or doesn\'t exist'.format(self.progs[prog])
    )

between the two blocks add this(Your Graphviz's executable path):

self.progs[prog] = "C:/Program Files (x86)/Graphviz2.38/bin/gvedit.exe"

after adding the result is:

if prog not in self.progs:
    raise InvocationException(
        'GraphViz\'s executable "%s" not found' % prog)

self.progs[prog] = "C:/Program Files (x86)/Graphviz2.38/bin/gvedit.exe"

if not os.path.exists(self.progs[prog]) or \
        not os.path.isfile(self.progs[prog]):
    raise InvocationException(
        'GraphViz\'s executable "{}" is not'
        ' a file or doesn\'t exist'.format(self.progs[prog])
    )

save the changed file then you can run it successfully.
you'd better save it as bmp file because png file will not work.

Why twice the same answer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28312534/graphvizs-executables-are-not-found-python-3-4/55507373#55507373 (i.e. double maintenance), better crosslink to other answer. — albert, Apr 05 '19 at 08:45

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Jul 01 '19 at 14:23

If you dont want to mess around with path variables (e.g. if you are no admin) and if you are working on windows, you can do the following which solved the problem for me.

Open graphviz.py (likely located in ...Anaconda\pkgs\graphviz***\Library\bin) in an editor. If you cant find it you might be able to open it via the error message.

Go to the fuction __find_executables and replace:

elif os.path.exists(os.path.join(path, prg + '.exe')):
   if was_quoted:
      progs[prg] = '"' + os.path.join(path, prg + '.exe') + '"'
   else:
      progs[prg] = os.path.join(path, prg + '.exe')

with

elif os.path.exists(os.path.join(path, prg + '.bat')):
   if was_quoted:
      progs[prg] = '"' + os.path.join(path, prg + '.bat') + '"'
   else:
      progs[prg] = os.path.join(path, prg + '.bat')

score 0 · Answer 24 · edited Aug 23 '19 at 11:35

0

The solution is easy, you just need to download and install the Graphviz, from here.

Then set the path variable to the bin directory, in my case it was C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz2.38\bin. Last, do the conda install python-graphviz and it should work fine.

edited Aug 23 '19 at 11:35

Draken

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answered Aug 23 '19 at 07:39

user10116669

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score 0 · Answer 25 · answered Oct 26 '19 at 05:28

0

On Anaconda distro, pip install did not work. I did a pip uninstall graphviz, pip uninstall pydot, and then I did conda install graphviz and then conda install pydot, in this order, and then it worked!

answered Oct 26 '19 at 05:28

dannyxyz22

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score 0 · Answer 26 · answered May 17 '20 at 14:37

0

I used conda install python-graphviz then conda install pydot and then conda install pydot plus and then it worked.

So:

conda install python-graphviz
conda install pydot
conda install pydotplus

answered May 17 '20 at 14:37

Benjamin

1

score 0 · Answer 27 · edited Jun 03 '20 at 19:08

0

after doing all the installation of graphviz, adding to the PATH of environment variables, you need to add these two lines:

import os
os.environ["PATH"] += os.pathsep + 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Graphviz2.38/bin/'

edited Jun 03 '20 at 19:08

double-beep

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answered Jun 03 '20 at 15:11

Marwa

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score 0 · Answer 28 · answered May 02 '22 at 23:50

0

I tried several ways and all failed on Windows 10 and finally this worked for me: Try to install it directly from graphviz website, just google "install graphviz" and I believe it will be the first option.

answered May 02 '22 at 23:50

user19019888

1

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community May 07 '22 at 09:29

Why is pydot unable to find GraphViz's executables in Windows 8?

28 Answers28

I too had the same issue and I finally resolved it by having a look at the library.

Linked