Python 3.12 Won't Launch on Windows 11 with Module Encodings Error

Python Help
1

I’m trying to install the latest version of Python on Windows 11, but I run into an error that won’t let it launch at all.

For context, I use Python with Anaconda and Spyder. The last time I have programmed in Python was two years ago, so all of my programs were pretty outdated. I uninstalled the old programs from my system first, and then downloaded newest versions of all of them. This was when I realized Anaconda and Spyder won’t launch at all, and would not even give an error message.

After this I tried running python from the windows command line and saw two important error messages:
Fatal Python error: init_fs_encoding: failed to get the Python codec of the filesystem encoding
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘encodings’

I’ve tried looking up these error messages but I can’t find a solution that actually works for me. I’ve already uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times, and making sure to select “Add Python to PATH” when I do install it. When I look up these errors I see people working in much different environments than me, e.g. Linux or an IDE, but I can’t even launch my IDEs in the first place since Python won’t run.

Any help would be greatly appreciated- like I mentioned it’s been two years since I last programmed in Python so this is not my forte at all!!

C:\Windows\System32>py
Python path configuration:
  PYTHONHOME = 'C:\edb\languagepack\v2\Python-3.9'
  PYTHONPATH = (not set)
  program name = 'C:\Program Files\Python312\python.exe'
  isolated = 0
  environment = 1
  user site = 1
  safe_path = 0
  import site = 1
  is in build tree = 0
  stdlib dir = 'C:\edb\languagepack\v2\Python-3.9\Lib'
  sys._base_executable = 'C:\\Program Files\\Python312\\python.exe'
  sys.base_prefix = 'C:\\edb\\languagepack\\v2\\Python-3.9'
  sys.base_exec_prefix = 'C:\\edb\\languagepack\\v2\\Python-3.9'
  sys.platlibdir = 'DLLs'
  sys.executable = 'C:\\Program Files\\Python312\\python.exe'
  sys.prefix = 'C:\\edb\\languagepack\\v2\\Python-3.9'
  sys.exec_prefix = 'C:\\edb\\languagepack\\v2\\Python-3.9'
  sys.path = [
    'C:\\Program Files\\Python312\\python312.zip',
    'C:\\edb\\languagepack\\v2\\Python-3.9\\DLLs',
    'C:\\edb\\languagepack\\v2\\Python-3.9\\Lib',
    'C:\\Program Files\\Python312',
  ]
Fatal Python error: init_fs_encoding: failed to get the Python codec of the filesystem encoding
Python runtime state: core initialized
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings'

Current thread 0x000035cc (most recent call first):
  <no Python frame>

C:\Windows\System32>

cmd prompt
cmd prompt1521×930 53.4 KB

2

I’d rip the whole thing up and start from scratch. You appear to have a Python 3.12 environment trying to load stuff from a 3.9 installation.

3

Yes- I noticed that and wondered about it. The thing is, I don’t recall ever installing Python 3.9. And I can’t find an actual trace of a 3.9 installation anywhere that I can delete. Do you know where in my files I could check that it’s hiding?

And ripping the whole thing up and starting from scratch, yes, I’d like to do that- but how would I do that other than uninstalling my Python versions, which I’ve already done? How else could I clean it up? Thank you so much for the help.

4

It seems that you have set environment variables pointing to 3.9 versions of modules. Remove those definitions.

Maybe also clean up the 3.9 files you have installed into \erb.

5

And for what it’s worth, I’d be surprised if py works for conda based Python because a conda environment needs its activation script ran or half its DLLs will be unfindable.