# Plot problem

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Created:** [September 25, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067 "2017-09-25T17:22:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bob\_Rankin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bob_rankin/32/17929_2.png) [@Bob\_Rankin](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Bob_Rankin)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067/1 "2017-09-25T17:22:05Z")

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I recently upgraded to Julia 0.6 which I use with Atom on a Win 10 desktop system with core I7 processor where I write science/engineering applications. The applications all work fine except for any plotting with PyPlot or Plot where I get the  
error msg shown below. I get this error in both Atom and the REPL. I have uninstalled both Julia and Atom and reinstalled and restarted and I still get the same error. The error actually hangs Julia and I have to exit with the task manager.

Any ideas where I might go from here???

![Error](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/4/0/401890c4af3e42d228b49c19b4e0fb91e2cced8e.png)

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**Author:** ![Adriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f07891/32.png) [@Adriel](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Adriel)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067/2 "2017-09-25T18:37:49Z")

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Same problem here on Win 7. I deleted the package dir and reinstalled PyPlot alone, no luck.The symptoms are identical on two different machines.

I tried pinning PyPlot to v2.3.1. That helps in that plot commands seem to execute without producing the runtime error, but no output is produced.

First noticed over a week ago.

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**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067/3 "2017-09-25T19:11:13Z")

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Clues seam to point to a python issue. Julia in itself uses no MS Visual C libraries. The “Dependency Walker” should be a friend here but I don’t know where start looking. Maybe in python.exe?

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**Author:** ![rdeits](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rdeits/32/286_2.png) [@rdeits](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rdeits)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067/4 "2017-09-25T19:20:04Z")

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I’m afraid I don’t know much about debugging python-julia issues on Windows, and I can’t test this myself. However, one thing you might try is forcing PyCall (and, thus, PyPlot) to use its own self-contained Python version instead of whatever you may have on your system. Can you try running:

```julia
using PyCall
PyCall.python

```

if that outputs a version inside `.julia/v0.6/Conda/deps/usr/bin/python` then you’re already using a self-contained Python version and this won’t help. But if it shows some other path on your computer, then you can try:

```julia
ENV["PYTHON"] = ""
Pkg.build("PyCall")
Pkg.build("PyPlot")

```

Failing that, if all you want to do is plot things using Plots.jl, you can just switch to a different backend. I like `GR.jl`:

```julia
Pkg.add("GR")
using Plots
gr()
plot([1,2,3])

```

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**Author:** ![mkborregaard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkborregaard/32/556_2.png) [@mkborregaard](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkborregaard)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067/5 "2017-09-25T19:42:21Z")

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This question, by a different user, seemed to be resolved today at StackOverflow by setting the ENV and reinstalling and building PyCall, just as you suggest: [windows - Julia runtime error when using PyPlot - Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46399480/julia-runtime-error-when-using-pyplot)

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**Author:** ![Bob\_Rankin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bob_rankin/32/17929_2.png) [@Bob\_Rankin](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Bob_Rankin)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plot-problem/6067/6 "2017-09-25T22:16:32Z")

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Thanks, I’ll try that