PyInstaller works for Linux on Windows, but I can't get it to work with Windows to create a .exe

Question

I am trying to figure out how to make an executable for my scripts so that people around the office can use them for their needs (most won't have python installed).

I am running Windows 10.

I have been able to get pyinstaller to work on ubuntu on windows but I can't get it to with windows directly.

Is there a method to convert a linux executable to a windows one or does anyone have any insight on what's going on? I've copied the full error report below from windows.

C:\Users\Jesse\Desktop\DrawingFiles\Python>python3 pyinstaller --onefile hello.py
71 INFO: PyInstaller: 3.6
71 INFO: Python: 3.8.2
71 INFO: Platform: Windows-10-10.0.18362-SP0
72 INFO: wrote C:\Users\Jesse\Desktop\DrawingFiles\Python\hello.spec
74 INFO: UPX is not available.
75 INFO: Extending PYTHONPATH with paths
['C:\\Users\\Jesse\\Desktop\\DrawingFiles\\Python',
 'C:\\Users\\Jesse\\Desktop\\DrawingFiles\\Python']
75 INFO: checking Analysis
76 INFO: Building Analysis because Analysis-00.toc is non existent
76 INFO: Initializing module dependency graph...
78 INFO: Caching module graph hooks...
85 INFO: Analyzing base_library.zip ...
2486 INFO: Processing pre-find module path hook   distutils
2487 INFO: distutils: retargeting to non-venv dir 'C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_3.8.752.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\\lib'
3950 INFO: Caching module dependency graph...
4058 INFO: running Analysis Analysis-00.toc
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\win32ctypes\pywin32\pywintypes.py", line 35, in pywin32error
    yield
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\win32ctypes\pywin32\win32api.py", line 43, in LoadLibraryEx
    return _dll._LoadLibraryEx(fileName, 0, flags)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\win32ctypes\core\ctypes\_util.py", line 42, in check_null
    raise make_error(function, function_name)
OSError: [WinError 1920] The file cannot be accessed by the system.

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "pyinstaller", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(run())
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\__main__.py", line 114, in run
    run_build(pyi_config, spec_file, **vars(args))
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\__main__.py", line 65, in run_build
    PyInstaller.building.build_main.main(pyi_config, spec_file, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 734, in main
    build(specfile, kw.get('distpath'), kw.get('workpath'), kw.get('clean_build'))
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 681, in build
    exec(code, spec_namespace)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\Desktop\DrawingFiles\Python\hello.spec", line 6, in <module>
    a = Analysis(['hello.py'],
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 244, in __init__
    self.__postinit__()
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\datastruct.py", line 160, in __postinit__
    self.assemble()
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 393, in assemble
    self.binaries.extend(bindepend.Dependencies([('', python, '')],
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\depend\bindepend.py", line 228, in Dependencies
    for ftocnm, fn in getAssemblyFiles(pth, manifest, redirects):
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\depend\bindepend.py", line 404, in getAssemblyFiles
    for assembly in getAssemblies(pth):
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\depend\bindepend.py", line 355, in getAssemblies
    res = GetManifestResources(pth)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\utils\win32\winmanifest.py", line 1007, in GetManifestResources
    return winresource.GetResources(filename, [RT_MANIFEST], names, languages)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\PyInstaller\utils\win32\winresource.py", line 170, in GetResources
    hsrc = win32api.LoadLibraryEx(filename, 0, LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\win32ctypes\pywin32\win32api.py", line 43, in LoadLibraryEx
    return _dll._LoadLibraryEx(fileName, 0, flags)
  File "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_3.8.752.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\lib\contextlib.py", line 131, in __exit__
    self.gen.throw(type, value, traceback)
  File "C:\Users\Jesse\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python38\site-packages\win32ctypes\pywin32\pywintypes.py", line 37, in pywin32error
    raise error(exception.winerror, exception.function, exception.strerror)
win32ctypes.pywin32.pywintypes.error: (1920, 'LoadLibraryExW', 'The file cannot be accessed by the system.')

Thanks,

JT

Answer 1

The issue is with Pyinstaller. I had this problem before. If you want to make an exe using Pyinstaller than you have to do it with the OS you want it to be compatible with. So that means you use Pyinstaller for windows and the file will work for windows.