windows xp import pywinauto error

Question

1. use pywinauto in windows7 64 bit, work fine

2. use it in windows xp, met issue as below. Tried python3.4.4+pywinauto0.6.3, python2.7.14+pywinauto0.6.3 has the same issue.

   import pywinauto
   Traceback (most recent call last):
     File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\__init__.py", line 40, in <module>
     from . import findwindows
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\findwindows.py", line 42, in <module>
       from . import controls
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\controls\__init__.py", line 36,in <module>
       from . import uiawrapper # register "uia" back-end (at the end of uiawrapper module)
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\controls\uiawrapper.py", line 44, in <module>
     from ..uia_defines import IUIA
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\uia_defines.py", line 175, in <module>
       pattern_ids = _build_pattern_ids_dic()
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\uia_defines.py", line 163, in _build_pattern_ids_dic
       if hasattr(IUIA().ui_automation_client, cls_name):
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\uia_defines.py", line 50, in __call__
       cls._instances[cls] = super(_Singleton, cls).__call__(*args, **kwargs)
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\uia_defines.py", line 60, in __init__
       self.UIA_dll = comtypes.client.GetModule('UIAutomationCore.dll')
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\comtypes\client\_generate.py", line 97, in GetModule
       tlib = comtypes.typeinfo.LoadTypeLibEx(tlib)
     File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\comtypes\typeinfo.py", line 485, in LoadTypeLibEx
       _oleaut32.LoadTypeLibEx(c_wchar_p(szFile), regkind, byref(ptl))
     File "_ctypes/callproc.c", line 950, in GetResult
   WindowsError: [Error -2147312566] Error loading type library/DLL
   

I check another same topic, install .netframework 3.5 or uninstall pip uninstall comtypes, cannot resolve the problem. Need a more experienced person to help.

Answer 1

This is known issue. Should work on WinVista+. Or you can use pip install pywinauto==0.5.4 though UIA backend is absent here and coding style is pretty old (may not match some docs).