Tkinter on mac shows up as a black screen

Question

So here is my code:

from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
root.title("Greeting")
Label(root, text = "Hello World").pack()
root.mainloop()

but the only thing that shows up on the window after running it is a black screen

you can see the code and the window in this image if it helps

Answer 1

Had the same issue with Python 3.8 and Mac os Monterey; I've followed these steps to fix the issue:

1. Upgraded Mac Os to the latest version
2. Upgraded Python to 3.10/ 3.11

My issue was fixed.

Answer 2

I have the same issue on an M1 Pro. Works just fine on the intel Mac but not the M1. I have a further issue on the file dialog in which the file type does not appear in the M1 but works perfectly on the Intel Mac. I am not convinced that the hardware is the problem but more that it is the port of Tkinter to the platform.

Answer 3

After much digging, I've found a solution (with some caveats) - you'll need both homebrew and pyenv installed for this to work. The idea is to replace your old deprecated tkinter installation with an up-to-date one that actually works* (and leaves your Mac's system Python alone!)

Note that this will wipe out any packages you’ve installed with pip - back those up first! There is a plugin available for pyenv called pyenv pip-migrate that will make this easier.

Run the following commands

1. brew uninstall tcl-tk uninstall the old tk if you have it

2. pyenv uninstall 3.10.5 ...or whatever your current global Python version is

3. brew install tcl-tk grab a fresh install of tk

4. pyenv install 3.10.5 grab a fresh install of Python 3.10.5 (or whichever)

5. pyenv global 3.10.5 set your global Python version (matching the version you just installed above)

You need to install tk via homebrew before installing Python with pyenv because pyenv will automatically try to use whatever tk package it can find when it installs Python.

This will also work if you are using pyenv to upgrade from one version of Python to another.

Final Thoughts

• If you don't already have homebrew installed, here are good instructions

• If you don't have pyenv, just run brew install pyenv

• You’ll probably need to select your preferred Python interpreter in VSCode again

*This worked for me - YMMV

Answer 4

Install/activate and import all globally installed packages in a new virtual environment by running the command:

pip install virtualenv
virtualenv venv --system-site-packages
source venv/bin/activate

Answer 5

Add namespace from tkmacosx import Label.

Snippet:

from tkmacosx import Label
from tkinter import *

root = Tk()
root.title("Greeting")
Label(root, text = "Hello World").pack()

root.mainloop()