How to use Python's "easy_install" on Windows ... it's not so easy

Question

After installing Python 2.7 on Windows XP, then manually setting the %PATH% to python.exe (why won't the python installer do this?), then installing setuptools 0.6c11 (why doesn't the python installer do this?), then manually setting the %PATH% to easy_install.exe (why doesn't the installer do this?), I finally tried to install a python package with easy_install, but easy_install failed when it couldn't install the pywin32 package, which is a dependency. How can I make easy_install work properly on Windows XP? The failure follows:

C:\>easy_install winpexpect
Searching for winpexpect
Best match: winpexpect 1.4
Processing winpexpect-1.4-py2.7.egg
winpexpect 1.4 is already the active version in easy-install.pth

Using c:\python27\lib\site-packages\winpexpect-1.4-py2.7.egg
Processing dependencies for winpexpect
Searching for pywin32>=214
Reading http://pypi.python.org/simple/pywin32/
Reading http://sf.net/projects/pywin32
Reading http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=78018
No local packages or download links found for pywin32>=214
Best match: None
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\python27\scripts\easy_install-script.py", line 8, in 
    load_entry_point('setuptools==0.6c11', 'console_scripts', 'easy_install')()
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 1712, in main
    with_ei_usage(lambda:
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 1700, in with_ei_usage
    return f()
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 1716, in 
    distclass=DistributionWithoutHelpCommands, **kw
  File "C:\python27\lib\distutils\core.py", line 152, in setup
    dist.run_commands()
  File "C:\python27\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 953, in run_commands
    self.run_command(cmd)
  File "C:\python27\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 972, in run_command
    cmd_obj.run()
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 211, in run
    self.easy_install(spec, not self.no_deps)
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 446, in easy_install
    return self.install_item(spec, dist.location, tmpdir, deps)
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 481, in install_item
    self.process_distribution(spec, dists[0], deps, "Using")
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 519, in process_distribution
    [requirement], self.local_index, self.easy_install
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources.py", line 563, in resolve
    dist = best[req.key] = env.best_match(req, self, installer)
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources.py", line 799, in best_match
    return self.obtain(req, installer) # try and download/install
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources.py", line 811, in obtain
    return installer(requirement)
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 434, in easy_install
    self.local_index
  File "C:\python27\lib\site-packages\setuptools\package_index.py", line 475, in fetch_distribution
    return dist.clone(location=self.download(dist.location, tmpdir))
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'clone'

Answer 1

If you are using windows 7 64-bit version, then the solution is found here: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools

namely, you need to download a python script, run it, and then easy_install will work normally from commandline.

P.S. I agree with the original poster saying that this should work out of the box.