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Presently, I'm attempting to configure Django for use on a project, and am encountering a persistent error when I try to run python manage.py syncdb.

File "/x/x/x/x/x/x/base.py", line 23, in ?
    raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading psycopg module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg module: No module named psycopg

The other discussions of a similar problem that I have found both here and on other sites ended up being solved by the user downloading and installing psycopg, but unless I'm missing something critical, I've done that several times. I downloaded the tarball, unpacked it on my server, ran python setup.py build and python setup.py install with a --prefix directing it to my existing Python Path...I can go and navigate to the folder and see the various psycopg files, but for whatever reason, when I try to get my new project to sync up with the database, it cannot find psycopg and, as a result, won't talk to the db.

Notes: hostmonster.com account, have tried multiple release versions of psycopg2.

user968270
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  • This issue has been solved. After installing a current version of Python, the whole process went very smoothly and quickly for me. Thank you, s. zakharov for your assistance. – user968270 Nov 23 '11 at 07:39
  • I got the same error when I was updating some dependencies. What worked for me was to remove my virtual environment, create a brand new, and install the dependencies. – lmiguelvargasf Dec 09 '18 at 21:46

16 Answers16

100

I had the error as well; although psycopg2 was installed on my system using apt-get, my virtualenv couldn't find it:

>>> import psycopg2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named psycopg2

It was fixed by doing a pip install psycopg2-binary inside the virtualenv (or pip install psycopg2 for <2.8 psycopg2 versions).

SaeX
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    I have done this, 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2' as well as the thing you suggested. Still the same error. – NixMan Jan 18 '18 at 18:45
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    `UserWarning: The psycopg2 wheel package will be renamed from release 2.8; in order to keep installing from binary please use "pip install psycopg2-binary" instead` – Roman Nov 17 '18 at 00:49
  • Thanks Roman. You save my time and I have solved psycopg2 issue in my virtualenv. – Chirag Kalal Jun 04 '19 at 04:18
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    I tried to fix this using `pip install psycopg2-binary` and solved – Chandan Sharma Nov 13 '19 at 10:52
31

type pip install psycopg2-binary inside the virtualenv worked for me

Mohamed Atef
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19

I had this problem on a virtualenv in Ubuntu 18.4. I solved it by installing psycopg2 v2.7.4:

pip install psycopg2==2.7.4
Stephen Rauch
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Heron Rossi
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    THANKS! this one worked for me too. I had in my requirements.txt psycopg2==2.8.3 that used to work without any problems. By any chance, you know why the older version now works and not the most recent one? – Joehat Mar 30 '20 at 20:47
12

Try to use this:

sudo apt-get install python-psycopg2
chancyWu
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Stone
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9

On MacOS, psycopgy2 v2.8.4 and its binary isn't compatible with python 3.8 yet.

Downgrade to python 3.7. All works.

1-  On mac (outside venv), Uninstall 3.8 and then install 3.7 using instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2VXCEfIgC0

2- Go to your django project main folder, delete 'venv' folder and 'manage.py'

3- Install new venv using python 3.7. command:  python3 -m venv ./venv

4- Run venv. Command: source ./venv/bin/activate

5- Install django in this new venv again. Command: pip3 install django This will create 'django-admin' under ./venv/bin/ and the django libraries.

6- Create manage.py like you would do for a new project again. Command: django-admin startproject <project folder> . (notice the '.' in end)

The command wont run as previous already exists. So before doing so, rename it to _temp and after running the command which creates a new folder, copy _temp contents to the new . Delete _temp.

7-Run: pip3 install psycopg2

and: pip3 install psycopg2-binary

(If you get an error pg_config executable not found error then run under venv, run following command before installing psycopg again:

export PATH=“/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:$PATH)
Adrian Mole
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ZacSaeed
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7

You try to load psycopg, not psycopg2. Make sure that ENGINE is set to django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2 in the settings.py of your project:

'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2'

May be problem is: 32bit version of Python cannot load a 64bit version of psycopg2.

sergzach
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  • That was one part of the process that worried me: my installation of psycopg creates a new directory called 'lib64' in the primary pythonpath folder, whereas the rest of Django only created a 'bin' and 'lib' folder. I added this 'lib64' to my .bashrc file, and the psycopg2 directory shows up in the list when I run import sys and sys.path. Is there a particular file name I should be looking for that contains the actual psycopg module? I have a psycopg1.py and psycopg1.pyc in the top level of the psycopg2 directory, but reading through them, they appear to be ancillary. – user968270 Nov 23 '11 at 06:27
  • OK, see my new answer please. – sergzach Nov 23 '11 at 06:28
  • Okay, for the first time since I hit this problem, I am seeing some change, which is encouraging itself. However, I'm now receiving the same error except it's now failing to find the psycopg2 module. I see a few files with 'psycopg2' in the name, but they're all either in the initial extracted tarball folder or labeled 'test.' – user968270 Nov 23 '11 at 06:35
  • Is *folder psycopg2* in *site-packages directory*? – sergzach Nov 23 '11 at 06:39
  • What is your Python? If Python is 64bit have you installed 64bit version of psycopg2 lib? – sergzach Nov 23 '11 at 06:42
  • psycopg2 is at lib64/python2.4/site-packages/psycopg2. All of my other Django files are in lib/python2.4/site-packages/psycopg2. Whenever I've installed psycopg2, it always creates this 'lib64' directory. I modified my .bashrc file to include it in my Pythonpath, but I may have done so incorrectly. Should I just move psycopg2 to the normal lib's site-packages? The version of python is pre-installed on hostmonster, it appears to be 32-bit. I will attempt to install a 32-bit version of psycopg2 – user968270 Nov 23 '11 at 06:42
  • What django files in psycopg2 dir? Files of your project or files of Django library? – sergzach Nov 23 '11 at 06:45
  • 32bit version of Python cannot load 64bit version of psycopg2. – sergzach Nov 23 '11 at 06:46
  • I can't seem to locate a 32-bit tarball of recent psycopg2 releases. I think I'll start over and install a 64-bit Python client on hostmonster and begin there. Thank you for your patience and help. – user968270 Nov 23 '11 at 06:50
  • My problem was I hadn't installed the propper packages so I just `apt-get install libpq-dev python-dev postgresql postgresql-contrib python-psycopg2` and everything was fine – Robert Johnstone Nov 23 '13 at 23:16
5

I was also receiving similar error, it simply means that it is unable to find the "psycopg2" package/module. I resolved it simply by installing it in my environment using the command:

pip install psycopg2

Mohit S
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I hope this command will solve your problem (tested on ubuntu)

pip install psycopg2-binary
Sohaib Anwaar
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ERROR: Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/psycopg2' Consider using the --user option or check the permissions.

if the above error shows then, please try installing with:

pip install psycopg2-binary --user

Then it finally works. There is no need to edit on DATABASE ENGINE.

N.Neupane
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I had this problem inside a python virtual environment (virtualenv), copying the library into the site-package of the environment from the system site packages solved the problem.

tjb
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python -m pip install psycopg2
MAY
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Run the below command in Command Line Prompt

pip install psycopg2

This will install psycopg2 and resolve the issue.

Ankit Garg
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First:

pip uninstall psycopg2

Then, load the direct file from http://www.stickpeople.com/projects/python/win-psycopg/

file name : = psycopg2-2.6.2.win-amd64-py2.7-pg9.5.3-release.exe

As per your requirement, and then copy this downloaded file to env folder and do this: 

easy_install psycopg2-2.6.2.win-amd64-py2.7-pg9.5.3-release.exe(your file name)

This will copy required files.

cela
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Dev Jalla
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It can happen if you don't have psycopg2 installed already.

I had this problem with the virtualenv, I simply installed psycopg2 and it is working fine. No need to edit the db configurations.

pip install psycopg2

Sandeep Chauhan
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This Problem can be of any reason -

  1. You have downloaded the wrong version of pyscog2 that doesn't support the current version of the Django.

  2. You might have placed the pyscopg2 in the wrong directory.

  3. You might have downloaded the pyscopg2 without the virtual environment and then activated post-install so it may be showing error.

  4. Bad configuration of the virtual environment in manage.py leads to the error.

  5. See the proper configuration it may be taking pyscopg2 from the root folder rather than the virtual environment.

Piyush Ranjan Chaudhary
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sudo apt-get install python3-psycopg2

Worked on Ubuntu 20.04, python 3.10.4, Django 4.1.

csgeek
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smeric
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