Pip dist: archivebox setup failed due to "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified" on Win10

E:\archivebox>archivebox setup
[i] [2021-07-22 01:40:22] ArchiveBox v0.6.2: archivebox setup
    > E:\archivebox


[+] Installing enabled ArchiveBox dependencies automatically...

    Installing YOUTUBEDL_BINARY automatically using pip...
2021.02.10 is already installed youtube-dl

    Installing CHROME_BINARY automatically using playwright...

    Installing SINGLEFILE_BINARY, READABILITY_BINARY, MERCURY_BINARY automatically using npm...
[X] Failed to install npm packages: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified
    Hint: Try deleting E:\archivebox/node_modules and running it again

(It says " Hint: Try deleting E:\archivebox/node_modules and running it again" but there is not node_modules subdir.) So does archivebox init --setup.

I should have all the environments:

E:\archivebox>npm --version
7.20.0

E:\archivebox>node --version
v15.4.0

E:\archivebox>python --version
Python 3.9.1

[pirate]

 -  CHROME_BINARY         -               disabled

I just noticed you don’t have CHROME enabled, which means Singlefile work work anyway (it needs Chrome). Readability and Mercury may be able to work using the wget output, but you also don’t have wget installed so all three are pointless. Without either wget or Chrome, ArchiveBox is really not doing much, most of the extractors will fail.

I highly highly recommend running ArchiveBox in docker instead, running it directly on Windows without Docker/WSL/WSL2 is really not supported as you’ll run into all kinds of dependency problems such as what you encountered here.

I’m going to close this as wontfix because I don’t want to set a precedent of supporting ArchiveBox directly on Windows, or I will open pandoras box and have far too many support tickets given its lackluster compatibility right now. Docker on Windows is the only Windows install method I’m willing to provide support for.

Sorry for the hassle, but I promise in the long run you will have fewer issues and a more secure setup running it in Docker vs without.

[Explorare]

I installed the mercury-parser again globally this time and it is recognized. But with no luck on the rest.

 explo@THINKPAD  ~\..\..\ArchiveBox  readability-extractor --version
0.0.3
 explo@THINKPAD  ~\..\..\ArchiveBox  mercury-parser --version

mercury-parser

    The Mercury Parser extracts semantic content from any url

Usage:

    $ mercury-parser url-to-parse [--format=html|text|markdown] [--header.name=value]... [--extend type=selector]... [--extend-list type=selector]... [--add-extractor path_to_extractor.js]...


 explo@THINKPAD  ~\..\..\ArchiveBox  single-file --version
0.3.26
 explo@THINKPAD  ~\..\..\ArchiveBox  archivebox --version
ArchiveBox v0.6.2
Cpython Windows Windows-10-10.0.19043-SP0 AMD64
IN_DOCKER=False DEBUG=False IS_TTY=True TZ=UTC SEARCH_BACKEND_ENGINE=ripgrep

[i] Dependency versions:
 √  ARCHIVEBOX_BINARY     v0.6.2          valid     C:\Users\explo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\Scripts\archivebox.exe
 √  PYTHON_BINARY         v3.9.6          valid     C:\Users\explo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\python.exe

 √  DJANGO_BINARY         v3.1.13         valid     C:\Users\explo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\Lib\site-packages\django\bin\django-admin.py
 √  CURL_BINARY           v7.55.1         valid     C:\Windows\System32\curl.EXE

 X  WGET_BINARY           ?               invalid   wget

 √  NODE_BINARY           v16.6.0         valid     "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE"

 X  SINGLEFILE_BINARY     ?               invalid   .\node_modules\.bin\single-file

 X  READABILITY_BINARY    ?               invalid   .\node_modules\.bin\readability-extractor

 √  MERCURY_BINARY        v1.0.0          valid     .\node_modules\.bin\mercury-parser

 √  GIT_BINARY            v2.31.1.        valid     "C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.EXE"

 √  YOUTUBEDL_BINARY      v2021.06.06     valid     C:\Users\explo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\Scripts\youtube-dl.EXE
 -  CHROME_BINARY         -               disabled

 X  RIPGREP_BINARY        ?               invalid   rg


[i] Source-code locations:
 √  PACKAGE_DIR           23 files        valid     C:\Users\explo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\Lib\site-packages\archivebox
 √  TEMPLATES_DIR         3 files         valid     C:\Users\explo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\Lib\site-packages\archivebox\templates
 -  CUSTOM_TEMPLATES_DIR  -               disabled


[i] Secrets locations:
 -  CHROME_USER_DATA_DIR  -               disabled

 -  COOKIES_FILE          -               disabled


[i] Data locations:
 √  OUTPUT_DIR            8 files         valid     C:\Users\explo\Documents\Tools\ArchiveBox

 √  SOURCES_DIR           3 files         valid     .\sources

 √  LOGS_DIR              1 files         valid     .\logs

 √  ARCHIVE_DIR           2 files         valid     .\archive

 √  CONFIG_FILE           84.0 Bytes      valid     .\ArchiveBox.conf

 √  SQL_INDEX             212.0 KB        valid     .\index.sqlite3


[!] Warning: Missing 4 recommended dependencies
    ! WGET_BINARY: wget (unable to detect version)
    ! SINGLEFILE_BINARY: C:\Users\explo\Documents\Tools\ArchiveBox\node_modules\.bin\single-file (unable to detect version)
      Hint: To install all packages automatically run: archivebox setup
            or to disable it and silence this warning: archivebox config --set SAVE_SINGLEFILE=False

    ! READABILITY_BINARY: C:\Users\explo\Documents\Tools\ArchiveBox\node_modules\.bin\readability-extractor (unable to detect version)
      Hint: To install all packages automatically run: archivebox setup
            or to disable it and silence this warning: archivebox config --set SAVE_READABILITY=False

    ! RIPGREP_BINARY: rg (unable to detect version)