MaartenGr / MaartenGr/BERTopic

Can't install hdbscan on windows 11: "'building._hdbscan_tree' extension error: [WinError 5] Access is denied"

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Python
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Description

I am struggling to get bertopic installed on a windows machine. hdbscan seems to fail everytime. Here are the details of what I trying to do and what i have done:

1. I am trying to install in a virtual environment
2. Initially i ran into the problem regarding MS c++ 14. I installed, and that error disappeared.
3. Now i get the error error:
```
...
tree = Parsing.p_module(s, pxd, full_module_name)
building 'hdbscan._hdbscan_tree' extension
[WinError 5] Access is denied
[end of output]

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
ERROR: Failed building wheel for hdbscan
Failed to build hdbscan
ERROR: Could not build wheels for hdbscan, which is required to install pyproject.toml-based projects
```
4. I get this error when i try `py -m pip install bertopic` and when i try `py -m pip install hdbscan`
5. I have tried updating pip: `py -m pip install --upgrade pip`
7. I have tried running everything from a command prompt (rather than from my IDE)
8. I have tried rebooting the machine and only opening a command prompt and running the install
9. I have tried running from powershell as an adminstrator - using `python` rather than `py` when executing the above calls.

If anyone can tell what might be causing this permission error, I would be enormously appreciative.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported Windows 11 installation failure with `py -m pip install hdbscan` in a virtual environment, then compare it with `py -m pip install bertopic`. Done means identifying a reproducible cause for the `hdbscan._hdbscan_tree` build permission error and confirming that installation succeeds.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
machine-learning, tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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