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I am trying to install virtualenv on Ubuntu.

First it said command 'pip' not found, so I typed 

sudo apt install python-pip

then it said 

E: Unable to locate package python-pip

I tried to reset WSL, download using cmd but it doesn't work with Ubuntu. I don't know why. Even though I have downloaded python3, virtualenv, and pip using cmd. It doesn't work with Ubuntu 18.04. It also fails on Ubuntu 14.04.

aiki@LAPTOP-886AEJJG:~$ pip

Command 'pip' not found, but can be installed with:

sudo apt install python-pip

aiki@LAPTOP-886AEJJG:~$ sudo apt install python-pip
[sudo] password for aiki:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package python-pip

I'm trying to install jarvis and mycroft on win 10, but I need to use Ubuntu because it only works with Linux.

Archulan Rajakumaran
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Aiki
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7 Answers7

107
ls /bin/python*

Identify the highest version of python listed. If the highest version is something like python2.7 then install python2-pip If its something like python3.8 then install python3-pip

Example for python3.8:

sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Achala Dissanayake
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Charles
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    Hi, I have python2.7 installed in "/usr/lib/python2.7" and "/usr/local/bin/python2.7", when I run "sudo apt-get install python2-pip" it gives same error: "Unable to locate package python2-pip" ls /bin/python* outputs: bin/python3 /bin/python3.8 /bin/python3-futurize /bin/python3-pasteurize Is my python2.7 installed on wrong place? – hasany Sep 04 '20 at 12:08
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    This is the right answer for most having this problem IMHO. – desgua Nov 14 '20 at 10:42
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    I agree with @desgua.In my case whenever I ran `python --version` from the terminal it said `Python 2.7.2`. When I checked in the `/bin/python*`, however, there were several other 3.x versions installed. Worth checking out. – nocomment Feb 21 '21 at 00:10
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    `sudo apt-get install python2-pip` yields `E: Unable to locate package python2-pip` – Snackoverflow May 14 '21 at 06:56
79

Try following command sequence on Ubuntu terminal:

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-add-repository universe
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Marty
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BetaDev
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  • what does this mean "aiki@LAPTOP-886AEJJG:~/Jarvis$ ./setup.sh Specify python version(2/3)(Default-3)3 Selected python version 3 Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/bin/python3 Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualenv.py", line 22, in import distutils.spawn ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.spawn'" – Aiki Mar 30 '19 at 05:12
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    make sure python3 and pip3 if you are using version 3 and also make sure about the module that you have imported is i stalled using pip3. check the python version and pip version then check if the imported module on your code is available under those versions of python and pip. – BetaDev Mar 30 '19 at 21:28
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    for any other new problem, post new question on stack overflow but first search stack overflow for you new problem. – BetaDev Mar 30 '19 at 21:30
  • how do i check the pip version? do i just type pip3? – Aiki Mar 31 '19 at 10:06
  • `pip --version` and `python --version`. For you new problem, post new question on stack. – BetaDev Mar 31 '19 at 15:24
  • @Aiki use `python3 -m pip --version` – Tony Chou Dec 11 '20 at 02:12
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    Does not work in a docker container derived from ubuntu:latest – Emre Tapcı Feb 17 '21 at 12:44
  • Does not work in a google instance – alper Apr 23 '21 at 17:37
43

Try the following commands in terminal, this will work better:

apt-get install curl

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py

python get-pip.py
Community
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Augustine Jose
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9

On some kind of Linux, like distros based on Debian, you might want to consider updating your 'apt-get' first, in case you are installing python-pip through it.

sudo apt-get update

This might help apt-get to update its indexes and locate the python-pip package. After this, u might install it like this-

sudo apt-get install python-pip (Python2)
sudo apt-get install python3-pip (Python3)
ANUP SAJJAN
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5

You might have python 3 pip installed already. Instead of pip install you can use pip3 install.

pfrank
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3

To solve the problem of:

E: Unable to locate package python-pip

you should do this. This works with the python2.7 and you not going to get disappointed by it. follow the steps that are mention below. go to get-pip.py and copy all the code from it.
open the terminal using CTRL + ALT +T

vi get-pip.py

paste the copied code here and then exit from the vi editor by pressing

ESC then :wq => press Enter

lastly, now run the code and see the magic

sudo python get-pip.py

It automatically adds the pip command in your Linux.
you can see the output of my machine

Anubhav Sharma
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I'm using WSL2 on Windows 10 and I had the same issue. Try the way which helped me to fix this. I assume that you are using python3.

python3 get-pip.py
sudo apt install python3-pip
Anh Tran
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