How to install pywin32 in virtualenv with python 2.7 64 bit?

Question

I wonder right way to install on virtualenv with 64 bit python 2.7 pywin32 module (Operating system is Windows 7 64 bit).
I've found exe installer on Sourceforge.

When i run easy_installer on command line first everything goes fine but soon i see strange behavior: while pywin32-216.win-amd64-py2.7 installs it runs pywin32-216-py2.7-win32.egg and it fails with error:

No local packages or download links found for pywin32==216
Best match: None

And here is my full log:

(sandbox_virtenv) D:\test\py2exe_test>easy_install http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/Build216/pywin32-216.win-amd64-py2.7.exe
Downloading http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/Build216/pywin32-216.win-amd64-py2.7.exe
Processing pywin32-216.win-amd64-py2.7.exe
pywintypes: module references __file__
win32evtlogutil: module references __file__
win32serviceutil: module references __file__
win32timezone: module references __file__
Demos.win32rcparser_demo: module references __file__
Demos.security.sspi.validate_password: module references __file__
isapi.install: module references __file__
isapi.samples.advanced: module references __file__
isapi.samples.test: module references __file__
isapi.test.setup: module references __file__
pywin.framework.scriptutils: module references __file__
pywin.framework.startup: module references __path__
pywin.scintilla.config: module references __path__
pywin.scintilla.control: module references __file__
pywin.scintilla.IDLEenvironment: module references __file__
scripts.regsetup: module references __file__
scripts.setup_d: module references __file__
test.testall: module references __file__
test.test_clipboard: module references __file__
test.test_win32api: module references __file__
test.test_win32rcparser: module references __file__
D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\bdist_egg.py:422: UnicodeWarning: Unicode equal comparison failed to convert both arguments to Unicode - interpreting them as being unequal
  symbols = dict.fromkeys(iter_symbols(code))
test.test_win32trace: module references __file__
win32com.__init__: module references __path__
win32com.server.register: module references __file__
win32com.server.register: module references __path__
win32com.test.GenTestScripts: module references __path__
win32com.test.pippo_server: module references __file__
win32com.test.testall: module references __file__
win32com.test.testAXScript: module references __path__
win32com.test.testDictionary: module references __file__
win32com.test.testPippo: module references __file__
win32com.test.testPyComTest: module references __file__
win32com.test.testServers: module references __file__
win32com.test.util: module references __file__
win32comext.adsi.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.authorization.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.axcontrol.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.axdebug.codecontainer: module references __file__
win32comext.axdebug.debugger: module references __file__
win32comext.axdebug.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.axscript.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.bits.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.directsound.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.directsound.test.ds_test: module references __file__
win32comext.internet.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.mapi.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.shell.__init__: module references __path__
win32comext.shell.demos.servers.empty_volume_cache: module references __file__
win32comext.shell.demos.servers.folder_view: module references __file__
win32comext.taskscheduler.__init__: module references __path__
creating 'c:\users\antp~1.kyi\appdata\local\temp\easy_install-kclmxk\pywin32-216-py2.7-win32.egg' and adding 'c:\users\antp~1.kyi\appdata\local\temp\easy_install-kclmxk\pywin32-216-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp' to it
creating d:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\pywin32-216-py2.7-win32.egg
Extracting pywin32-216-py2.7-win32.egg to d:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages
Adding pywin32 216 to easy-install.pth file
Installing pywin32_postinstall.py script to D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\Scripts
Installing pywin32_postinstall.pyc script to D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\Scripts
Installing pywin32_testall.py script to D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\Scripts
Installing pywin32_testall.pyc script to D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\Scripts

Installed d:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\pywin32-216-py2.7-win32.egg
Processing dependencies for pywin32==216
Searching for pywin32==216
Reading http://pypi.python.org/simple/pywin32/
Reading http://sf.net/projects/pywin32
Reading https://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/
Reading http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=78018
No local packages or download links found for pywin32==216
Best match: None
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\Scripts\easy_install-script.py", line 8, in <module>
    load_entry_point('setuptools==0.6c11', 'console_scripts', 'easy_install')()
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 1712, in main
    with_ei_usage(lambda:
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 1700, in with_ei_usage
    return f()
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 1716, in <lambda>
    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 "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 211, in run
    self.easy_install(spec, not self.no_deps)
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 422, in easy_install
    return self.install_item(None, download, tmpdir, deps, True)
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 478, in install_item
    self.process_distribution(spec, dist, deps)
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 519, in process_distribution
    [requirement], self.local_index, self.easy_install
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 563, in resolve
    dist = best[req.key] = env.best_match(req, self, installer)
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 799, in best_match
    return self.obtain(req, installer) # try and download/install
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\pkg_resources.py", line 811, in obtain
    return installer(requirement)
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\setuptools\command\easy_install.py", line 434, in easy_install
    self.local_index
  File "D:\test\sandbox_virtenv\lib\site-packages\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg\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'

(sandbox_virtenv) D:\test\py2exe_test>

Now i can import from python win32api and it's quite confusing

(sandbox_virtenv) D:\test\py2exe_test>python
Python 2.7.2 (default, Jun 12 2011, 14:24:46) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import win32api
>>>

If you find here something unclear ask me. Thanks for yours advices.

Answer 1

I figured this out, but the process isn't pleasant.

There are 3 problems with the PyWin32 installer:

1. It reads your python install location out of the registry.
2. Is assumes that your lib directory is a child of the directory containing python.exe
3. It dumps 3 dlls to %WINDIR%\system32

So if you're running 64 bit python 2.7 on 64 bit windows or 32 on 32 and your virtual environment is in c:\scratch\env1\ the process looks like this:

1. Copy python.exe and pythonw.exe from c:\scratch\env1\scripts to c:\scratch\env1
2. Update the value "(default)" in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Python\PythonCore\2.7\InstallPath\ to "c:\scratch\env1\" (make sure you record the old value.)
3. From the command line, where you've activated the virtual environment, install PyWin32 by running the installer.exe directly. Do not use easy_install.
4. Set the InstallPath registry key back to the original value
5. Delete python.exe and pythonw.exe from c:\scratch\env1\
6. move pythoncom27.dll, pywintypes27.dll and pythoncomloader27.dll from %WINDIR%\system32\ to c:\scratch\env1\ (do not move python27.dll or you'll regret it)

This works well enough to run django-mssql in the virtual environment without having pywin32 installed outside of the virtual environment.