How to Install PyInstaller¶

PyInstaller is a normal Python package. You can download the archive from PyPi, but it is easier to install using pip where is is available, for example:

pip install pyinstaller

or upgrade to a newer version:

pip install --upgrade pyinstaller

To install the current development version use:

pip install https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/tarball/develop

Installing in Windows¶

For Windows, PyWin32 or the more recent pypiwin32, is a prerequisite. The latter is installed automatically when you install PyInstaller using pip or easy_install. If necessary, follow the pypiwin32 link to install it manually.

It is particularly easy to use pip-Win to install PyInstaller along with the correct version of PyWin32. pip-Win also provides virtualenv, which makes it simple to maintain multiple different Python interpreters and install packages such as PyInstaller in each of them. (For more on the uses of virtualenv, see Supporting Multiple Platforms below.)

When pip-Win is working, enter this command in its Command field and click Run:

venv -c -i pyi-env-name

This creates a new virtual environment rooted at C:\Python\pyi-env-name and makes it the current environment. A new command shell window opens in which you can run commands within this environment. Enter the command

pip install PyInstaller

Once it is installed, to use PyInstaller,

Start pip-Win
In the Command field enter venv pyi-env-name
Click Run

Then you have a command shell window in which commands such as pyinstaller execute in that Python environment.

Installing in Mac OS X¶

PyInstaller works with the default Python 2.7 provided with current Mac OS X installations. However, if you plan to use a later version of Python, or if you use any of the major packages such as PyQt, Numpy, Matplotlib, Scipy, and the like, we strongly recommend that you install these using either MacPorts or Homebrew.

PyInstaller users report fewer problems when they use a package manager than when they attempt to install major packages individually.

Installing from the archive¶

If pip is not available, download the compressed archive from PyPI. If you are asked to test a problem using the latest development code, download the compressed archive from the develop branch of PyInstaller Downloads page.

Expand the archive. Inside is a script named setup.py. Execute python setup.py install with administrator privilege to install or upgrade PyInstaller.

For platforms other than Windows, GNU/Linux and Mac OS, you must first build a bootloader program for your platform: see Building the Bootloader. After the bootloader has been created, use python setup.py install with administrator privileges to complete the installation.

Verifying the installation¶

On all platforms, the command pyinstaller should now exist on the execution path. To verify this, enter the command:

pyinstaller --version

The result should resemble 3.n for a released version, and 3.n.dev0-xxxxxx for a development branch.

If the command is not found, make sure the execution path includes the proper directory:

Windows: C:\PythonXY\Scripts where XY stands for the major and minor Python version number, for example C:\Python34\Scripts for Python 3.4)
GNU/Linux: /usr/bin/
OS X (using the default Apple-supplied Python) /usr/bin
OS X (using Python installed by homebrew) /usr/local/bin
OS X (using Python installed by macports) /opt/local/bin

To display the current path in Windows the command is echo %path% and in other systems, echo $PATH.

Installed commands¶

The complete installation places these commands on the execution path:

pyinstaller is the main command to build a bundled application. See Using PyInstaller.
pyi-makespec is used to create a spec file. See Using Spec Files.
pyi-archive_viewer is used to inspect a bundled application. See Inspecting Archives.
pyi-bindepend is used to display dependencies of an executable. See Inspecting Executables.
pyi-grab_version is used to extract a version resource from a Windows executable. See Capturing Windows Version Data.

If you do not perform a complete installation (installing via pip or executing setup.py), these commands will not be installed as commands. However, you can still execute all the functions documented below by running Python scripts found in the distribution folder. The equivalent of the pyinstaller command is pyinstaller-folder/pyinstaller.py. The other commands are found in pyinstaller-folder/cliutils/ with meaningful names (makespec.py, etc.)