spyder-kernels requires administrative privileges

[rukie]

I work in an organization with restrictive policies, but we are able to access pip.
Python and Pip are managed through a software center.
When trying to use Spyder with a managed python installation, users don't have the appropriate privileges to install packages in the default directory.

I'd like to understand how to get around this problem, or improve path variables, or such, for users to install spyder-kernels successfully in a non-standard directory without administrative privileges.

For reference, files are installed in AppData Roaming directories of the user's local folders.
C:\Users{Username}\AppData\Roaming{Python3X}\site-packages

I don't have a machine available to test this on, but I'm curious if trying to install with
python3 -m pip install --user spyder-kernels
would recreate the issue.

Relevant issues:
spyder-ide/spyder#17608

[AJ528]

I also encountered this issue. With spyder-kernels installed as a normal user, I ran into the same issues as spyder-ide/spyder#17608. After uninstalling and reinstalling as admin, the problem was solved.

[ccordoba12]

Hey folks, sorry for the late response. We're investigating why this happens but we'd appreciate your help to try to solve it.

Could you apply a simple change to the Spyder or Spyder-kernels code to see if that fixes it?

[rukie]

What change would you like to try?

[ccordoba12]

@rukie, thanks for offering your help! Please open a terminal (i.e. cmd.exe) and run there

echo %APPDATA%

Then copy the result and go to this file in Spyder (in the directory where it's installed):

https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder/blob/5.x/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/utils/kernelspec.py

and add the following to it:

Hopefully that should solve the problem of detecting Spyder-kernels when it's installed in the APPDATA directory.

[akalbekov]

@rukie, thanks for offering your help! Please open a terminal (i.e. cmd.exe) and run there

echo %APPDATA%

Then copy the result and go to this file in Spyder (in the directory where it's installed):

https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder/blob/5.x/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/utils/kernelspec.py

and add the following to it:

Hopefully that should solve the problem of detecting Spyder-kernels when it's installed in the APPDATA directory.

Hi @ccordoba12, I have the same problem after testing pip install spyder-kernels==2.4.0 without admin privileges.
"You can install it by activating your environment first (if necessary) and then running in a system terminal:
conda install spyder-kernels=2.4
or
pip install spyder-kernels==2.4.*"

I have anaconda installed spyder and this solution adding APPDATA directory didn't work,

Is there any other kernelspec.py file other than in the folder below?

C:\Users\akalbekov\AppData\Local\anaconda3\pkgs\spyder-5.4.3-py311haa95532_1\Lib\site-packages\spyder\plugins\ipythonconsole\utils

Thanks.

[rukie]

On the latest asset we set up, this did not seem to resolve it.

[rukie]

Any other ideas? Still running into this.

[rukie]

Not a fix, but installing Python in a non-restricted location like C:\Python instead of C:\Program Files\ seems to help avoiding write restrictions.

Still haven't figured out how to get spyder-kernels to work in a user directory.