iPython Notebook in Windows - Error on Startup
Question: I am trying desperately to get ipython notebook to work in a windows
environment. I installed Continuum IO's Anaconda, a scientific distribution of
python. I want to use ipython notebook, but get the following error. `ipython`
in the terminal works fine. Any thoughts?

UPDATE: As asked for below, here is the output from sys.path on my system.

    
    
    ['',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\scripts',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\site-packages\\distribute-0.6.45-py2.7.egg',
     'C:\\Anaconda',
     'C:\\Users\\btibert\\ C:\\Anaconda\\Scripts',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\python27.zip',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\DLLs',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\plat-win',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\lib-tk',
     'C:\\Users\\btibert\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python27\\site-packages',
     'C:\\Users\\btibert\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python27\\site-packages\\Orange\\orng',
     'C:\\Users\\btibert\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python27\\site-packages\\setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg-info',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\site-packages',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\site-packages\\PIL',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\site-packages\\win32',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\site-packages\\win32\\lib',
     'C:\\Anaconda\\lib\\site-packages\\Pythonwin',
     'C:\\Users\\btibert\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python27\\site-packages\\IPython\\extensions']
    

And here is the error:

    
    
    C:\Users\btibert>ipython notebook
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "C:\Anaconda\Scripts\ipython-script.py", line 5, in <module>
        sys.exit(launch_new_instance())
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\frontend\terminal\ipapp.py", line 402, in
     launch_new_instance
        app.initialize()
      File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\config\application.py", line 84, in catch
    _config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\frontend\terminal\ipapp.py", line 302, in
     initialize
        super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).initialize(argv)
      File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\config\application.py", line 84, in catch
    _config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\core\application.py", line 325, in initia
    lize
        self.parse_command_line(argv)
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\frontend\terminal\ipapp.py", line 297, in
     parse_command_line
        return super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).parse_command_line(argv)
      File "<string>", line 2, in parse_command_line
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\config\application.py", line 84, in catch
    _config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\config\application.py", line 413, in pars
    e_command_line
        return self.initialize_subcommand(subc, subargv)
      File "<string>", line 2, in initialize_subcommand
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\config\application.py", line 84, in catch
    _config_error
        return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\config\application.py", line 349, in init
    ialize_subcommand
        subapp = import_item(subapp)
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\utils\importstring.py", line 40, in impor
    t_item
        module = __import__(package,fromlist=[obj])
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\IPython\frontend\html\notebook\notebookapp.py", l
    ine 34, in <module>
        from zmq.eventloop import ioloop
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\zmq\eventloop\__init__.py", line 3, in <module>
        from zmq.eventloop.ioloop import IOLoop
      File "C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\zmq\eventloop\ioloop.py", line 56, in <module>
        from zmq.eventloop.platform.auto import set_close_exec, Waker
    ImportError: No module named platform.auto
    


Answer: It would be helpful to know what your `sys.path` is. You can find that by
doing:

    
    
    $ ipython
    
    In [1]: import sys
    
    In [2]: sys.path
    

And then share here the output. Next, you want to check what files you have in
this directory:

    
    
    C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages\zmq\eventloop\platform
    

Ideally, you'll see `auto.py` there, and if
`C:\Users\btibert\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python27\site-packages` is in your
sys.path then it is a mystery why it isn't working, but if that file isn't
there, the directory doesn't exist, or the path to `site-packages` isn't in
your `sys.path`, then those need to be resolved first.

Let us know and we can try to take it from there!

