WSL : Python executable coming from outside... and failing.

Issue description

Attempting to use pipenv to create a virtualenv on Windows(10) Subsystem Linux (Ubuntu distro), pipenv fails during the virtualenv creation. The issues seems to be that pipenv decides to use a python executable from windows, instead of the one from the WSL distro.

The flow I used to install pipenv on WSL was :

• install python3.7 via apt,
• install python3-pip via apt,
• install latest pip in user env via pip3 install --user --upgrade pip,
• install pipenv in user env via pip install --user pipenv. Note user shell must be restarted to get the correct pip. Note I also have Python 3.7.2 installed on Windows.

Expected result

Pipenv decides to use python 3.7.1 coming from WSL environment, and environment is created with success :

alexv@AlexV-Win10-Oryx:/mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01$ pipenv install
Creating a virtualenv for this project…
Pipfile: /mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01/Pipfile
Using /usr/bin/python3.7 (3.7.1) to create virtualenv…
⠋ Creating virtual environment...Using base prefix '/usr'
New python executable in /mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01/.venv/bin/python3.7
Also creating executable in /mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01/.venv/bin/python
Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...
done.
Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/bin/python3.7

✔ Successfully created virtual environment!

Actual result

alexv@AlexV-Win10-Oryx:/mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01$ pipenv install -v
Creating a virtualenv for this project…
Pipfile: /mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01/Pipfile
Using /mnt/c/Program Files/Python37/python.exe (3.7.2) to create virtualenv…
⠹ Creating virtual environment...Running virtualenv with interpreter /mnt/c/Program Files/Python37/python.exe

✘ Failed creating virtual environment
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/alexv/.local/bin/pipenv", line 10, in <module>
    sys.exit(cli())
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 764, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 717, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 1137, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 956, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 555, in invoke
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/decorators.py", line 64, in new_func
    return ctx.invoke(f, obj, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/core.py", line 555, in invoke
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/vendor/click/decorators.py", line 17, in new_func
    return f(get_current_context(), *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/cli/command.py", line 254, in install
    editable_packages=state.installstate.editables,
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/core.py", line 1741, in do_install
    pypi_mirror=pypi_mirror,
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/core.py", line 574, in ensure_project
    pypi_mirror=pypi_mirror,
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/core.py", line 506, in ensure_virtualenv
    python=python, site_packages=site_packages, pypi_mirror=pypi_mirror
  File "/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv/core.py", line 935, in do_create_virtualenv
    extra=[crayons.blue("{0}".format(c.err)),]
pipenv.exceptions.VirtualenvCreationException: Failed to create virtual environment.

Steps to replicate

Pipfile :

[[source]]
name = "pypi"
url = "https://pypi.org/simple"
verify_ssl = true

[dev-packages]

[packages]
pytest = "*"

[requires]
python_version = "3.7"

Workaround

Running instead : pipenv install --python=/usr/bin/python3.7 fixes the problem by specifying which python needs to be used.

---

$ pipenv --support

Pipenv version: '2018.11.26'

Pipenv location: '/home/alexv/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pipenv'

Python location: '/usr/bin/python3'

Python installations found:

• 3.7.2: /mnt/c/Program Files/Python37/python.exe
• 3.7.2: /mnt/c/Program Files/Python37/pythonw.exe
• 3.7.1: /usr/bin/python3.7
• 3.7.1: /usr/bin/python3.7m
• 3.6.7: /usr/bin/python3
• 3.6.7: /usr/bin/python3.6m

PEP 508 Information:

{'implementation_name': 'cpython',
 'implementation_version': '3.6.7',
 'os_name': 'posix',
 'platform_machine': 'x86_64',
 'platform_python_implementation': 'CPython',
 'platform_release': '4.4.0-17763-Microsoft',
 'platform_system': 'Linux',
 'platform_version': '#253-Microsoft Mon Dec 31 17:49:00 PST 2018',
 'python_full_version': '3.6.7',
 'python_version': '3.6',
 'sys_platform': 'linux'}

System environment variables:

• LS_COLORS
• HOSTTYPE
• LESSCLOSE
• LANG
• DIRENV_DIR
• OLDPWD
• DIRENV_DIFF
• VIRTUAL_ENV
• USER
• DIRENV_WATCHES
• PWD
• HOME
• NAME
• XDG_DATA_DIRS
• PIPENV_ACTIVE
• SHELL
• TERM
• SHLVL
• LOGNAME
• PATH
• WSLENV
• LESSOPEN
• BASH_FUNC_show_virtual_env%%
• _
• PIP_DISABLE_PIP_VERSION_CHECK
• PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE
• PIP_SHIMS_BASE_MODULE
• PIP_PYTHON_PATH
• PYTHONFINDER_IGNORE_UNSUPPORTED

Pipenv–specific environment variables:

• PIPENV_ACTIVE: 1

Debug–specific environment variables:

• PATH: /bin:/home/alexv/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/mnt/c/Program Files/Python37/Scripts:/mnt/c/Program Files/Python37:/mnt/c/Windows/System32:/mnt/c/Windows:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/wbem:/m nt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH:/mnt/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin:/mnt/c/Program Files/NVIDIA Corporation/NVIDIA NvDLISR:/mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/mnt/c/Program Files/Git/cmd:/mnt/c/Users/A lexV/AppData/Roaming/Python/Python37/Scripts:/mnt/c/tools/Cmder:/mnt/c/tools/direnv:/mnt/c/tools/Syncthing:/mnt/c/Users/AlexV/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/mnt/c/Users/AlexV/AppData/Local/GitHubDesktop/bin:/snap/bin
• SHELL: /bin/bash
• LANG: C.UTF-8
• PWD: /mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01
• VIRTUAL_ENV: ``

---

Contents of Pipfile (‘/mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01/Pipfile’):

[[source]]
name = "pypi"
url = "https://pypi.org/simple"
verify_ssl = true

[dev-packages]

[packages]
pytest = "*"

[requires]
python_version = "3.7"

Contents of Pipfile.lock (‘/mnt/c/Users/AlexV/Documents/GitHub/functional-python/01/Pipfile.lock’):

{
    "_meta": {
        "hash": {
            "sha256": "828b8ad012f4c8773e6e61e3ac2be0ffcd7540fd7ed175a8355676c8e31c4d3d"
        },
        "pipfile-spec": 6,
        "requires": {
            "python_version": "3.7"
        },
        "sources": [
            {
                "name": "pypi",
                "url": "https://pypi.org/simple",
                "verify_ssl": true
            }
        ]
    },
    "default": {
        "atomicwrites": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:0312ad34fcad8fac3704d441f7b317e50af620823353ec657a53e981f92920c0",
                "sha256:ec9ae8adaae229e4f8446952d204a3e4b5fdd2d099f9be3aaf556120135fb3ee"
            ],
            "version": "==1.2.1"
        },
        "attrs": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:10cbf6e27dbce8c30807caf056c8eb50917e0eaafe86347671b57254006c3e69",
                "sha256:ca4be454458f9dec299268d472aaa5a11f67a4ff70093396e1ceae9c76cf4bbb"
            ],
            "version": "==18.2.0"
        },
        "more-itertools": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:38a936c0a6d98a38bcc2d03fdaaedaba9f412879461dd2ceff8d37564d6522e4",
                "sha256:c0a5785b1109a6bd7fac76d6837fd1feca158e54e521ccd2ae8bfe393cc9d4fc",
                "sha256:fe7a7cae1ccb57d33952113ff4fa1bc5f879963600ed74918f1236e212ee50b9"
            ],
            "version": "==5.0.0"
        },
        "pluggy": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:8ddc32f03971bfdf900a81961a48ccf2fb677cf7715108f85295c67405798616",
                "sha256:980710797ff6a041e9a73a5787804f848996ecaa6f8a1b1e08224a5894f2074a"
            ],
            "version": "==0.8.1"
        },
        "py": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:bf92637198836372b520efcba9e020c330123be8ce527e535d185ed4b6f45694",
                "sha256:e76826342cefe3c3d5f7e8ee4316b80d1dd8a300781612ddbc765c17ba25a6c6"
            ],
            "version": "==1.7.0"
        },
        "pytest": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:41568ea7ecb4a68d7f63837cf65b92ce8d0105e43196ff2b26622995bb3dc4b2",
                "sha256:c3c573a29d7c9547fb90217ece8a8843aa0c1328a797e200290dc3d0b4b823be"
            ],
            "index": "pypi",
            "version": "==4.1.1"
        },
        "six": {
            "hashes": [
                "sha256:3350809f0555b11f552448330d0b52d5f24c91a322ea4a15ef22629740f3761c",
                "sha256:d16a0141ec1a18405cd4ce8b4613101da75da0e9a7aec5bdd4fa804d0e0eba73"
            ],
            "version": "==1.12.0"
        }
    },
    "develop": {}
}

[danmichaelo]

I got annoyed from having to specify my python version every time so I just removed %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps from PATH in Windows. Now pipenv never gets confused with the python.exe that Micrsoft put in there.

Also works to just disable the app execution alias (Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage app execution aliases): https://superuser.com/a/1461471/56154

[thernstig]

@frostming I am unsure why you closed this, can you elaborate? This is a real concern that you most likely will get a large influx of issues on. This is a serious bug that will hit anyone developing in WSL.

In the Windows 10, May 2019 update (19.03) python.exe and python3.exe are found by default, but they do not point to a real Python executable. I.e. a user have these without having installed Python in Windows. Read this announcement https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/python-in-the-windows-10-may-2019-update/ and more specifically this quote:

Finally, with the May 2019 Windows Update, we are completing the picture. While Python continues to remain completely independent from the operating system, every install of Windows will include python and python3 commands that take you directly to the Python store page.

I get this failure even though I have only installed python into the WSL distribution, and my project resides in the /home/username/ dir.

11:56:55 computer1 ~/code/scrapy (master)$ which python
/usr/bin/python
11:57:01 computer1 ~/code/scrapy (master)$ which python3
/usr/bin/python3
11:57:04 computer1 ~/code/scrapy (master)$ printenv PATH
/home/username/code/scrapy/.venv/bin:/home/username/.pyenv/shims:/home/username/.pyenv/bin:/home/username/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/mnt/c/Program Files/WindowsApps/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_1804.2019.521.0_x64__79rhkp1fndgsc:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32:/mnt/c/WINDOWS:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH/:/mnt/c/Users/username/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/snap/bin

This completely breaks working in WSL and automatic installing like with pyenv, or using direnv with layout_pipenv. And the user on the 2019 May update has not even installed in Windows.