Question: I am using VS Code on Windows 10. When I try to install the face_recognition package using pip I get the following error:  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: command: 'c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-f5b3pskr\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\Include\dlib' cwd: C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\ Complete output (60 lines): running install running build running build_py package init file 'tools\python\dlib\__init__.py' not found (or not a regular file) running build_ext Building extension for Python 3.8.5 (tags/v3.8.5:580fbb0, Jul 20 2020, 15:57:54) [MSC v.1924 64 bit (AMD64)] Invoking CMake setup: 'cmake C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\tools\python -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\build\lib.win-amd64-3.8 -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\python.exe -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE=C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\build\lib.win-amd64-3.8 -A x64' -- Building for: NMake Makefiles CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:5 (message): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must use Visual Studio to build a python extension on windows. If you are getting this error it means you have not installed Visual C++. Note that there are many flavors of Visual Studio, like Visual Studio for C# development. You need to install Visual Studio for C++. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred! Traceback (most recent call last): File "<string>", line 1, in <module> File "C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\setup.py", line 223, in <module> setup( File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\site-packages\setuptools\__init__.py", line 144, in setup return distutils.core.setup(**attrs) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\core.py", line 148, in setup dist.run_commands() File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 966, in run_commands self.run_command(cmd) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command cmd_obj.run() File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\install.py", line 61, in run return orig.install.run(self) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\command\install.py", line 545, in run self.run_command('build') File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command self.distribution.run_command(command) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command cmd_obj.run() File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\command\build.py", line 135, in run self.run_command(cmd_name) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\cmd.py", line 313, in run_command self.distribution.run_command(command) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 985, in run_command cmd_obj.run() File "C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\setup.py", line 135, in run self.build_extension(ext) File "C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-fi__6w9v\dlib\setup.py", line 172, in build_extension subprocess.check_call(cmake_setup, cwd=build_folder) File "c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\lib\subprocess.py", line 364, in check_call raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd) subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['cmake', 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\tools\\python', '-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\build\\lib.win-amd64-3.8', '-DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=c:\\users\\admin\\appdata\\local\\programs\\python\\python38\\python.exe', '-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE=C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\build\\lib.win-amd64-3.8', '-A', 'x64']' returned non-zero exit status 1. ---------------------------------------- ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: 'c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-fi__6w9v\\dlib\\setup.py'"'"';f=getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-f5b3pskr\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python38\Include\dlib' Check the logs for full command output.  I tried to install dlib before installing face_recognition.

Answer: The answer is really simple. You have to do what it says. Go to the VS installer and install VS for C++ and C#. The reason is that these modules use C code and while using Visual Studio, you have to make it so that it can compile the C++ code