# Access denied for plotting artifacts

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question, plotting, artifacts\
**Created:** [February 22, 2024, 10:48am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570 "2024-02-22T10:48:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christopher\_Fisher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/christopher_fisher/32/26132_2.png) [@Christopher\_Fisher](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Christopher_Fisher)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:48am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/1 "2024-02-22T10:48:16Z")

</div>

For seemingly no reason, I encountered an error with GR\_jll failing to compile. Nothing changed on my system as far as I can tell. This ultimately lead the error below after upgrading from Julia 1.10 to 1.10.1.

```julia
Precompiling project...
  ✗ Libtiff_jll
  ✗ GR_jll
  ✗ Plots
  ✗ Plots → UnitfulExt
  176 dependencies successfully precompiled in 196 seconds. 6 already precompiled.
  1 dependency had output during precompilation:
┌ GR
│ ERROR: LoadError: InitError: could not load library "C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\artifacts\e0047abf10ac78869271eb320a815a4c4f0945fd\bin\liblzma-5.dll"
│ Access is denied.

```

I tried following the advice in [this post](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/windows-artifact-issue-access-denied-when-installing-plots-makie/103734/6),and [this post](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-precompile-plots-jl-due-to-gr/88230/14). I found an open issue on the topic [here](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/52272).

I tried the following, which lead to an error:

```julia
julia> Base.compilecache(Base.identify_package("GR"))
ERROR: MethodError: no method matching compilecache(::Nothing)

Closest candidates are:
  compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::String)
   @ Base loading.jl:2335
  compilecache(::Base.PkgId)
   @ Base loading.jl:2326
  compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::String, ::IO, ::IO, ::Bool)
   @ Base loading.jl:2335
  ...

Stacktrace:
 [1] top-level scope
   @ REPL[4]:1

```

This abrupt change in behavior is very frustrating. Any help would be appreciated.

**Update**

Same problem for Julia 1.9.4.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:15am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/2 "2024-02-22T11:15:25Z")

</div>

See my answer here and the whole thread:

> [@Given up installing any plotting packages](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/given-up-installing-any-plotting-packages/110272/30):
>
> Did you try with Julia 1.9?

In short: delete the artifact and reinstall it with Julia 1.9.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christopher\_Fisher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/christopher_fisher/32/26132_2.png) [@Christopher\_Fisher](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Christopher_Fisher)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:25am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/3 "2024-02-22T11:25:18Z")

</div>

Thank you for your reply. Sorry I did not see the step of deleting the artifacts. I deleted .julia/artifacts and tried again with Julia 1.9.4. Unfortunately, that did not work:

> **Error Trace**
>
> Is there any other course of action?
> 
> ```julia
> julia> versioninfo()
> Julia Version 1.9.4
> Commit 8e5136fa29 (2023-11-14 08:46 UTC)
> Build Info:
> Official https://julialang.org/ release
> Platform Info:
> OS: Windows (x86_64-w64-mingw32)
> CPU: 8 × 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
> WORD_SIZE: 64
> LIBM: libopenlibm
> LLVM: libLLVM-14.0.6 (ORCJIT, tigerlake)
> Threads: 4 on 8 virtual cores
> Environment:
> JULIA_EDITOR = code
> JULIA_NUM_THREADS = 4
> Downloaded artifact: Pixman
> Downloaded artifact: XML2
> Downloaded artifact: Gettext
> Downloaded artifact: OpenSSL
> Downloaded artifact: FFMPEG
> Downloaded artifact: Libgcrypt
> Downloaded artifact: Xorg_xkeyboard_config
> Downloaded artifact: LLVMOpenMP
> Downloaded artifact: LAME
> Downloaded artifact: Libiconv
> Downloaded artifact: Qt6Base
> Downloaded artifact: libvorbis
> Downloaded artifact: Glib
> Precompiling project...
> ✗ Plots
> ✗ Plots → UnitfulExt
> 102 dependencies successfully precompiled in 123 seconds. 83 already precompiled.
> 2 dependencies errored. To see a full report either run `import Pkg; Pkg.precompile()` or load the packages
> julia> using Plots
> [Info: Precompiling Plots [91a5bcdd-55d7-5caf-9e0b-520d859cae80]
> ERROR: LoadError: InitError: UndefVarError: `GR_jll` not defined
> Stacktrace:
> [1] __init__ ()
> @ GR.GRPreferences C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\GR\xEQ37\src\preferences.jl:64
> [2] register_restored_modules(sv::Core.SimpleVector, pkg::Base.PkgId, path::String)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1115
> [3] _include_from_serialized(pkg::Base.PkgId, path::String, ocachepath::String, depmods::Vector{Any})
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1061
> [4] _require_search_from_serialized(pkg::Base.PkgId, sourcepath::String, build_id::UInt128)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1506
> [5] _require(pkg::Base.PkgId, env::String)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1783
> [6] _require_prelocked(uuidkey::Base.PkgId, env::String)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1660
> [7] macro expansion
> @ .\loading.jl:1648 [inlined]
> [8] macro expansion
> @ .\lock.jl:267 [inlined]
> [9] require(into::Module, mod::Symbol)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1611
> [10] top-level scope
> @ C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\backends.jl:380
> [11] eval
> @ .\boot.jl:370 [inlined]
> [12] _initialize_backend(pkg::Plots.GRBackend)
> @ Plots C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\backends.jl:379
> [13] backend(pkg::Plots.GRBackend)
> @ Plots C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\backends.jl:244
> [14] backend(sym::Symbol)
> @ Plots C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\backends.jl:254
> [15] load_default_backend()
> @ Plots C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\backends.jl:201
> [16] backend()
> @ Plots C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\backends.jl:232
> [17] top-level scope
> @ C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\init.jl:91
> [18] include(mod::Module, _path::String)
> @ Base .\Base.jl:457
> [19] include(x::String)
> @ Plots C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\Plots.jl:1
> [20] top-level scope
> @ C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\Plots.jl:176
> [21] include
> @ .\Base.jl:457 [inlined]
> [22] include_package_for_output(pkg::Base.PkgId, input::String, depot_path::Vector{String}, dl_load_path::Vector{String}, load_path::Vector{String}, 
> concrete_deps::Vector{Pair{Base.PkgId, UInt128}}, source::Nothing)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:2049
> [23] top-level scope
> @ stdin:3
> during initialization of module GRPreferences
> in expression starting at C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\init.jl:91
> in expression starting at C:\Users\christopher.fisher\.julia\packages\Plots\HyyIK\src\Plots.jl:1
> in expression starting at stdin:3
> ERROR: Failed to precompile Plots [91a5bcdd-55d7-5caf-9e0b-520d859cae80] to "C:\\Users\\christopher.fisher\\.julia\\compiled\\v1.9\\Plots\\jl_D605.tmp".
> Stacktrace:
> [1] error(s::String)
> @ Base .\error.jl:35
> [2] compilecache(pkg::Base.PkgId, path::String, internal_stderr::IO, internal_stdout::IO, keep_loaded_modules::Bool)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:2294
> [3] compilecache
> @ .\loading.jl:2167 [inlined]
> [4] _require(pkg::Base.PkgId, env::String)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1805
> [5] _require_prelocked(uuidkey::Base.PkgId, env::String)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1660
> [6] macro expansion
> @ .\loading.jl:1648 [inlined]
> [7] macro expansion
> @ .\lock.jl:267 [inlined]
> [8] require(into::Module, mod::Symbol)
> @ Base .\loading.jl:1611
> [9] eval
> @ .\boot.jl:370 [inlined]
> [10] eval
> @ .\Base.jl:68 [inlined]
> [11] repleval(m::Module, code::Expr, #unused#::String)
> @ VSCodeServer c:\Users\christopher.fisher\.vscode\extensions\julialang.language-julia-1.73.2\scripts\packages\VSCodeServer\src\repl.jl:229       
> [12] (::VSCodeServer.var"#110#112"{Module, Expr, REPL.LineEditREPL, REPL.LineEdit.Prompt})()
> @ VSCodeServer c:\Users\christopher.fisher\.vscode\extensions\julialang.language-julia-1.73.2\scripts\packages\VSCodeServer\src\repl.jl:192       
> [13] with_logstate(f::Function, logstate::Any)
> @ Base.CoreLogging .\logging.jl:514
> [14] with_logger
> @ .\logging.jl:626 [inlined]
> [15] (::VSCodeServer.var"#109#111"{Module, Expr, REPL.LineEditREPL, REPL.LineEdit.Prompt})()
> @ VSCodeServer c:\Users\christopher.fisher\.vscode\extensions\julialang.language-julia-1.73.2\scripts\packages\VSCodeServer\src\repl.jl:193       
> [16] #invokelatest#2
> @ .\essentials.jl:819 [inlined]
> [17] invokelatest(::Any)
> @ Base .\essentials.jl:816
> [18] macro expansion
> @ c:\Users\christopher.fisher\.vscode\extensions\julialang.language-julia-1.73.2\scripts\packages\VSCodeServer\src\eval.jl:34 [inlined]
> [19] (::VSCodeServer.var"#62#63")()
> @ VSCodeServer .\task.jl:514
> 
> julia> Base.compilecache(Base.identify_package("GR"))
> ERROR: MethodError: no method matching compilecache(::Nothing)
> 
> Closest candidates are:
> compilecache(::Base.PkgId)
> @ Base loading.jl:2153
> compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::IO)
> @ Base loading.jl:2153
> compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::IO, ::IO)
> @ Base loading.jl:2153
> ...
> 
> Stacktrace:
> [1] top-level scope
> @ REPL[6]:1
> 
> ```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/4 "2024-02-22T11:28:45Z")

</div>

> [@Christopher\_Fisher](#):
>
> Unfortunately, that did not work:

Well, now the error is different, isn’t it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christopher\_Fisher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/christopher_fisher/32/26132_2.png) [@Christopher\_Fisher](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Christopher_Fisher)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:40am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/5 "2024-02-22T11:40:05Z")

</div>

Yes. The error is different. So you are right that one problem was fixed. However, the [proposed solution](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-precompile-plots-jl-due-to-gr/88230/16) for `ERROR: LoadError: InitError: UndefVarError: `GR\_jll` not defined` did not work, which means I cannot make plots. At the bottom of the error trace you can see the following:

```julia

julia> Base.compilecache(Base.identify_package("GR"))
ERROR: MethodError: no method matching compilecache(::Nothing)

Closest candidates are:
  compilecache(::Base.PkgId)
   @ Base loading.jl:2153
  compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::IO)
   @ Base loading.jl:2153
  compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::IO, ::IO)
   @ Base loading.jl:2153
  ...

Stacktrace:
 [1] top-level scope
   @ REPL[6]:1

```

I’m not sure why there is now a method error, and what syntax to use instead.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christopher\_Fisher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/christopher_fisher/32/26132_2.png) [@Christopher\_Fisher](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Christopher_Fisher)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/6 "2024-02-22T11:49:52Z")

</div>

Ok. The problem was that I did not manually download GR. Here is a summary of what worked for me:

1. delete `.julia/artifacts`
2. downgrade to Julia 1.9.x
3. `add Plots GR`
4. Base.compilecache(Base.identify\_package(“GR”))
5. upgrade back to Julia 1.10.x

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/7 "2024-02-22T11:59:08Z")

</div>

You should be able to use 1.10 now - 1.9 is just needed to install the artifact in a way that allows you access.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christopher\_Fisher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/christopher_fisher/32/26132_2.png) [@Christopher\_Fisher](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Christopher_Fisher)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 12:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/access-denied-for-plotting-artifacts/110570/8 "2024-02-22T12:09:04Z")

</div>

Fantastic. Thank you again for your help!

I updated the solution accordingly.