Corrupted installation of MATLAB Engine for Python

I'm trying to install the MATLAB Engine for Python on Windows 7.

When I run "python setup.py install" in the python engine directory the engine seems to build and install fine. But, when I try to import matlab.engine in Python I receive this error:

"EnvironmentError: The installation of MATLAB Engine for Python is corrupted. Please reinstall it or contact MathWorks technical Support for assistance."

I have tried reinstalling the engine to no avail. I'm using 64-bit MATLAB and 64-bit Python. Has anyone had a similar issue?

[haojing]

Hi Ross, Have you solved this problem? I am encountering exactly the same problem and I couldn't find a way to solve it.

The matlab engine used to work correctly but after I did a os upgrade it started to report such error. I've tried to reinstall the matlab engine but got no luck...

Answer 1

[Bo Li]

Would you try the verbose mode of Python?

C:\>python -vvv
>>>import matlab.engine

The output may have some useful info.

[Ross]

Unfortunately that didn't yield anything fruitful:

...
# trying C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\Pythonwin\matlabengineforpython2_7.pyw
# trying C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\Pythonwin\matlabengineforpython2_7.pyc
# trying C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\matlab\matlabengineforpython2_7.pyd
# trying C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\matlab\matlabengineforpython2_7.py
# trying C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\matlab\matlabengineforpython2_7.pyw
# trying C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\matlab\matlabengineforpython2_7.pyc
# trying C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2014b\extern\engines\python\dist\matlab\engine\win64\matlabengineforpython2_7.pyd
#   clear[1] _module_folder
#   clear[1] _ver27
#   clear[1] _ver
#   clear[1] _envs
#   clear[1] _env
#   clear[1] _arch_filename
#   clear[1] _arch_file
#   clear[1] _arch
#   clear[1] _PYTHONVERSION
#   clear[1] _ver33
#   clear[1] _engine_dir
#   clear[1] _lines
#   clear[1] _bin_dir
#   clear[2] atexit
#   clear[2] importlib
#   clear[2] __package__
#   clear[2] __doc__
#   clear[2] __file__
#   clear[2] sys
#   clear[2] __name__
#   clear[2] __path__
#   clear[2] x
#   clear[2] os
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\Anaconda\lib\site-packages\matlab\engine\__init__.py", line 61, in <module>
    raise EnvironmentError('The installation of MATLAB Engine for Python is '
EnvironmentError: The installation of MATLAB Engine for Python is corrupted.  Please reinstall it or contact MathWorks Technical Support for assistance.

Answer 2

[Nagabhushan SN]

If you're trying to install matlab engine in a conda environment, follow the below steps:

cd "matlabroot\extern\engines\python"
python setup.py install --prefix="installdir"

Eg

cd /Applications/MATLAB_R2015a.app/extern/engines/python
python setup.py install --prefix="/Users/user/anaconda/"

Now, matlab engine package is actually installed under the separate

anaconda3/lib/python3.6/site-package/matlab

So you need to manually move that matlab folder to the site-package folder your python is using. If you have multiple virtual envs, move it to the corresponding site-package folder of the virtual env you will run program.

Eg

anaconda3/env/my_env/lob/python3.6/site-packages/matlab

References:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/41800724/3337089

https://stackoverflow.com/a/56553740/3337089

Answer 3

[Bo Li]

Which version of CPython are you using? Would you try both CPython 2.7 and CPython 3.3 to see how they work?

Answer 4

[Ross]

I'm using Python 2.7 - I'd rather not go to 3.3 as I have some other Python dependencies that require 2.7.

Answer 5

[Dave Bergstein]

This particular build of Python is not compatible with the MATLAB Engine for Python, which was developed for the reference Python implementation. Consider using one of the versions of Python described at the link below (including Python 2.7).

System requirements for MATLAB Engine for Python

The link also includes requirements for building Python from source.

[Ross]

Which particular build are you referring to? Anaconda is just a package distribution; it uses CPython so I'm using reference Python 2.7.8....are you suggesting a different Python implementation or a different version?

I can try installing Python manually, but on Windows that's not the optimal way to go - Python package management in Windows is a pain.

[Summer K.Rock]

Is there possible that copy "extern/engine/python" files to a pc without maltab installing, and use “pip install", could the APIEngine be installed?

Is matlab really necessary before install API engine?