pip throws TypeError: parse() got an unexpected keyword argument 'transport_encoding' when trying to install new packages

Question

I am using the latest version of Anaconda3. I just installed it and I am trying to download some packages. I am using the Anaconda Prompt. While trying to use pip to do anything (including upgrading existing packages) I get the following traceback.

    Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\basecommand.py", line 215, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\commands\install.py", line 335, in run
    wb.build(autobuilding=True)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\wheel.py", line 749, in build
    self.requirement_set.prepare_files(self.finder)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\req\req_set.py", line 380, in prepare_files
    ignore_dependencies=self.ignore_dependencies))
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\req\req_set.py", line 487, in _prepare_file
    req_to_install, finder)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\req\req_set.py", line 428, in _check_skip_installed
    req_to_install, upgrade_allowed)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\index.py", line 465, in find_requirement
    all_candidates = self.find_all_candidates(req.name)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\index.py", line 423, in find_all_candidates
    for page in self._get_pages(url_locations, project_name):
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\index.py", line 568, in _get_pages
    page = self._get_page(location)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\index.py", line 683, in _get_page
    return HTMLPage.get_page(link, session=self.session)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\index.py", line 811, in get_page
    inst = cls(resp.content, resp.url, resp.headers)
  File "C:\Users\csprock\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pip\index.py", line 731, in __init__
    namespaceHTMLElements=False,
TypeError: parse() got an unexpected keyword argument 'transport_encoding'

Any ideas? (this problem only started after I installed tensorflow) Thanks.

Answer 1

I had the same problem and what worked for me was updating pip with conda:

conda install pip

It changed my pip from 9.0.1-py36hadba87b_3 to 9.0.1-py36h226ae91_4 and solved issue.