I ran into a small issue last week when I tried the following command:

This returns “Python Pip install Error: Unable to find vcvarsall.bat.”  This is not a problem with cx_Oracle, it happens with any pip install that tries to compile.

If you want to skip the rant below and just get the driver loaded, the immediate solution is to download the binary installer and move on.  That worked fast and easy.

<Rant>
Before I found the simple solution above, my search found recommendations to install the VS compiler for Python 2.7, upgrade pip, and even to load Visual Studio Express.

BTW, the VS compiler for Python 2.7 took a loooooooong time to install.  An unacceptably long time.  VS Express added a few other apps to my system that I didn’t want.  As far as I could tell in the installer, there was no option to not load them.

In the process of trying these different solutions, none of which worked, I wound up with a lot of extra software that I didn’t want.

Now I am a newb to Python, but not to Windows.  I went in and tried to remove the bloatware that came with VS express and the other software, such as multiple versions of VS compiler.  As I expected, when I installed VS it modified some existing apps somewhere.  So when I removed VS it broke other apps that had been working fine before all of this.  Thankfully, I’ve done this enough times before, so I had a system restore point ready.

System restored, moving on.

The problem, as far as I can tell, is that the latest Python tools do not play well with the latest Microsoft tools when you are on a 64 bit OS.
</Rant>

Long term, as I move on to building real Python apps, I found a few workarounds that claim to solve this problem for windows that I could try.  But first, I plan to switch over to my Linux install and work there.   At this point I’m willing to bet it won’t be such a mess.