Cannot Install Python Poppler on Windows - WARNING: Failed to activate VS environment: Could not parse vswhere.exe output

Question

When trying to download the Python Poppler package, I am getting the following error:

 error: subprocess-exited-with-error
  
  Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.
  exit code: 1
  
  [20 lines of output]
  + meson setup C:\Users\fpiccorelli\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-qb9zfo1c\python-poppler_1c994e98bcfb487ba8f59b067e0f162c C:\Users\fpiccorelli\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-qb9zfo1c\python-poppler_1c994e98bcfb487ba8f59b067e0f162c\.mesonpy-hzuth6wu\build -Dbuildtype=release -Db_ndebug=if-release -Db_vscrt=md --native-file=C:\Users\fpiccorelli\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-qb9zfo1c\python-poppler_1c994e98bcfb487ba8f59b067e0f162c\.mesonpy-hzuth6wu\build\meson-python-native-file.ini
  The Meson build system
  Version: 1.1.1
  Source dir: C:\Users\fpiccorelli\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-qb9zfo1c\python-poppler_1c994e98bcfb487ba8f59b067e0f162c
  Build dir: C:\Users\fpiccorelli\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-qb9zfo1c\python-poppler_1c994e98bcfb487ba8f59b067e0f162c\.mesonpy-hzuth6wu\build
  Build type: native build
  Project name: python-poppler
  Project version: 0.4.1
  WARNING: Failed to activate VS environment: Could not parse vswhere.exe output
  
  ..\..\meson.build:1:0: ERROR: Unknown compiler(s): [['icl'], ['cl'], ['c++'], ['g++'], ['clang++'], ['clang-cl']]
  The following exception(s) were encountered:
  Running `icl ""` gave "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified"
  Running `cl /?` gave "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified"
  Running `c++ --version` gave "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified"
  Running `g++ --version` gave "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified"
  Running `clang++ --version` gave "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified"
  Running `clang-cl /?` gave "[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified"
  
  A full log can be found at C:\Users\fpiccorelli\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-qb9zfo1c\python-poppler_1c994e98bcfb487ba8f59b067e0f162c\.mesonpy-hzuth6wu\build\meson-logs\meson-log.txt
  [end of output]
  
  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
error: metadata-generation-failed

Encountered error while generating package metadata.

See above for output.

note: This is an issue with the package mentioned above, not pip.
hint: See above for details.

This looks similar to the error in Cannot install Scipy using pip on Windows, except the package is different and I AM using a 64 bit interpreter (Anaconda Navigator). Is this because Visual Studio finished its installation with .net instead of C++?

Answer 1

I encountered such a problem when I had Python (32-bit) installed on a 64-bit system, I tried to install the package in a dedicated environment. After I reinstalled, everything worked