Can't install package with pip: "error [WinWrror 5] Access is denied"

I am struggling to install hdbscan into a virtual environment. I am trying to do this as part of a bertopic install - which is also failing when trying to install hdbscan as a dependency.

I have looked through a number of SO pages on this error and tried almost everything, but nothing seems to work. Here are the specifics and what I have tried.

• I am on Windows 11

• I am trying to install to a virtual environment: py -m venv [path-to-environment] Note that when I activate the virtual environment i get the following error '"C:WINDOWS\System32\chcp.com"' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.. Despite this, the environment activates.

• Initially when trying the install I ran into a problem regarding MS C++14 requirements. I installed those and the error when away.

• Now i can't get around the error: Building wheel for hdbscan (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully. Specific error is as follows:

  building 'hdbscan._hdbscan_tree' extension
        error: [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
  

• Its the same error whether i try py -m pip install bertopic and py -m pip install hdbscan

• I have tried running as admin - since python is in the admin path i call python rather than py when repeating the above commands.

• I have tried updating pip in the virtual env py -m pip install --upgrade pip - everything is fine

• I have made sure to run from the command prompt rather than the IDE

• I have rebooted my machine and tried running this as the first thing i do

• I have tried adding the --user option but i get the response that this is available in the virtualenv: ERROR: Can not perform a '--user' install. User site-packages are not visible in this virtualenv.

• I note that my venv has its permissions set to read only. I changed this and ran the install again. Made no difference. Note on this, i am able to install other packages, with permissions being set to read-only, so i don't think this is the issue.

• I looked through my AppData\Local\Temp directory to delete any pip related folders, but found nothing (though there are some pyright and python-languageserver folders in there)

If anyone knows how I can diagnose the issue here, i would greatly appreciate it.

An update on this. Help from mikeolubode on the bertopic repo (https://github.com/MaartenGr/BERTopic/issues/1922) showed that this will install with python 3.9. I had also posted the issue to the HDBSCAN repo, and have updated that the problem appears to be with python 3.12.3.

For anyone wanting more specific instructions:

If you haven't already, delete your existing virtual environment.

Download and install python 3.9 (https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-390/)

Create your new virtual environment calling python 3.9. I am using the python launcher so at the command line that is:

py -3.9 -m venv [path_to_your_venv]

Activate your environment:

[path_to_your_venv]\Scripts\activate

And install HDBSCAN:

py -m pip install hdbscan

Everything now completes for me.