# Psychopy3.6 not running

**URL:** <https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069>\
**Category:** Builder\
**Created:** [October 7, 2020, 8:58am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069 "2020-10-07T08:58:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cuici](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@Cuici](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Cuici)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 8:58am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069/1 "2020-10-07T08:58:24Z")

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**OS** : Windows 10  
**PsychoPy version** : Psychopy 3.6

I was trying to install the latest version of Psychopy 3.6 hoping that some new slider/rating features may help design my new experiment. However, psychopy could not run after reinstalling and I got error message as follows:

Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages\psychopy\app\psychopyApp.py”, line 104, in   
main()  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages\psychopy\app\psychopyApp.py”, line 100, in main  
start\_app()  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages\psychopy\app\psychopyApp.py”, line 28, in start\_app  
app = PsychoPyApp(0, showSplash=showSplash)  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\lib\site-packages\psychopy\app\_psychopyApp.py”, line 226, in **init**  
self.onInit(testMode=testMode, \*\*kwargs)  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\lib\site-packages\psychopy\app\_psychopyApp.py”, line 416, in onInit  
logging.flush()  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\lib\site-packages\psychopy\logging.py”, line 300, in flush  
logger.flush()  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\lib\site-packages\psychopy\logging.py”, line 286, in flush  
target.write(formatted[thisEntry] + ‘\n’)  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\lib\site-packages\psychopy\logging.py”, line 206, in write  
stream.write(txt)  
File “C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\lib\encodings\cp1252.py”, line 19, in encode  
return codecs.charmap\_encode(input,self.errors,encoding\_table)[0]  
UnicodeEncodeError: ‘charmap’ codec can’t encode characters in position 103-107: character maps to

Psychopy closes automaticaly after I click on the ok button on the error message, and I have deleted the _appData.cfg_ file, checked the userPrefs.cfg as instructed on the troubleshooting website and none of these work. It also suggested I change the python appropriate to the Psychopy, but I don’t really know how to do this.

Your help is much appreciated!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TParsons](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/tparsons/32/8301_2.png) [@TParsons](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/TParsons)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069/2 "2020-10-08T12:57:08Z")

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It definitely looks like there’s something in a package which PschoPy isn’t getting on with.

The simplest solution is to try upgrading your version of PsychoPy to 2020.2.4. 3.6 is actually the version of Python you’re running on, so your PsychoPy may not be the most recent. If it is, or if this doesn’t work, you could try uninstalling and reinstalling all your packages. You can do this using the Command Prompt in Windows:

1. Find Command Prompt in your start menu, right click and choose “Open As Administrator”
2. type `cd C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages` to go to your site-packages directory
3. type `pip freeze > killList.txt` to store a list of all installed packages (and their version numbers) in a text file
4. type `pip list > requirements.txt` to store a list of all installed packages (sans version numbers) in a text file
5. type `pip uninstall -r killList.txt -y` to uninstall everything in `killList.txt`
6. type `pip install -r requirements.txt` to reinstall the latest version of everything

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cuici](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@Cuici](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Cuici)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069/3 "2020-10-08T16:51:41Z")

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> [@TParsons](#):
>
> cd C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages

Thank you so much for your reply TParsons!  
I tried copying the script that on cmd but I got an error message stating  
‘pip’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,  
operable program or batch file.

I have also tried to uninstall PsychoPy 3.6 and reinstall it through control panel but it didn’t work out. Do you know if there is any other way to update the Python version?

Thanks again.

Best,  
Cuici

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TParsons](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/tparsons/32/8301_2.png) [@TParsons](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/TParsons)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069/4 "2020-10-12T11:43:51Z")

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That `pip` error usually means you’re not in the correct folder - what does the cmd window return if you enter `cd`?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cuici](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@Cuici](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Cuici)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069/5 "2020-10-12T14:48:53Z")

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Here are the window returns when I type the first two scripts as suggested and lastly with only cd as requested, hope this is what you are looking for.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\>cd C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages

C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages\> pip freeze \> killList.txt  
‘pip’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,  
operable program or batch file.

C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages\>cd  
C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages

C:\Program Files\PsychoPy3\Lib\site-packages\>

Thanks again for your help!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TParsons](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/tparsons/32/8301_2.png) [@TParsons](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/TParsons)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-6-not-running/17069/6 "2020-10-12T15:21:16Z")

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So that’s definitely the correct location… Meaning `pip` doesn’t seem to be installed in your `site-packages` folder. In which case you should download the file `get-pip.py` from here to your site-packages folder:

> **[Installation — pip 20.2.3 documentation](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/)**

  
and then run it using:  
`python get-pip.py` while in that folder

then try again, hopefully once you have pip set up the original solution should work!