how to configure windows for pyarmor

Question

I'm trying to run pyarmor but running into problems.

current config

windows 10
python 3.12.1
pip 23.3.2
pyarmor 8.4.6
spyder 5.15.7  

I have a file called functions0.py I run:

pyarmor gen functions0.py

and this creates a folder dist.

I then add to my program the following:

import sys
sys.path.insert(1,'C:/Users/bluebeard/labs/lab03/dist')
import functions0

When I try to run my program, I get the following error:

File E:\python\Lib\site-packages\spyder_kernels\py3compat.py:356 in compat_exec
    exec(code, globals, locals)

  File c:\users\robert\labs\lab03\test.py:10
    import functions0

  File C:\Users/Robert/labs/lab03/dist\functions0.py:2
    from pyarmor_runtime_000000 import __pyarmor__

  File C:\Users/Robert/labs/lab03/dist\pyarmor_runtime_000000\__init__.py:2
    from .pyarmor_runtime import __pyarmor__

ImportError: DLL load failed while importing pyarmor_runtime: The specified 
module could not be found.