Windows Python ImportError: DLL load failed

LAST TESTED ON CHECKMK 2.0.0P1

Since Checkmk 2.0, we do provide Python inside the Checkmk Agent (Werk # 10689). If you're using PYTHONHOME or PYTHONPATH, you may run into a similar issue:

C:\Windows\system32>"C:\Program Files (x86)\checkmk\service\check_mk_agent.exe" updater register -v
 Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "C:\ProgramData\checkmk\agent\plugins\cmk_update_agent.checkmk.py", line 18, in <module>
 import logging.handlers
 File "C:\Program Files\Python38\Lib\logging\handlers.py", line 26, in <module>
 import logging, socket, os, pickle, struct, time, re
 File "C:\Program Files\Python38\Lib\socket.py", line 49, in <module>
 import _socket
 ImportError: DLL load failed while importing _socket: %1 is not a valid Win32 application.

Step-by-step guide

1. Verify, if PYTHONHOME and PYTHONPATH are really set

   C:\ProgramData\checkmk\agent\plugins>set | findstr /c:"PYTHON"
   PYTHONHOME="C:\Program Files\Python38"
   PYTHONPATH="C:\Program Files\Python38\Lib"

2. Remove that from the settings:

   C:\Program Files (x86)\checkmk\service>set PYTHONHOME=
   C:\Program Files (x86)\checkmk\service>set PYTHONPATH=

3. Try again to run the Checkmk updater

   C:\Program Files (x86)\checkmk\service>check_mk_agent.exe updater register
   Using previous settings from C:\ProgramData\checkmk\agent\config\cmk-update-agent.state.
   Our host name in the monitoring:

   .

Some background information:

Conclusion

You're able to run multiple Python Versions on one Windows machine. For that, we see two approaches at the moment

• Call your scripts with the right Python version e.g.

  c:\python\3.8\python.exe 
  c:\python\2.7\python.exe

• You can create a virtual env for your customized Python version like we do: https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/latest/

   'C:\ProgramData\checkmk\agent\modules\python-3\.venv\Scripts\python.exe C:\ProgramData\checkmk\agent\plugins\cmk_update_agent.checkmk.py'

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