Need help: django-admin.py startproject [projectname] creates directory which I cannot access

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Daisy

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May 2, 2018, 5:13:29 PM5/2/18
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I installed django according to provided instructions and I am trying to follow the Django article: Writing your first Django app, part 1 but I am stuck at Creating a project with command: django-admin startproject mysite.
The problem is that I CAN execute command but when I try to access directory with cd mysite I get the message "The system cannot find the path specified." although when I try to execute command startproject again I get the message that it already exists. (see attachment)
I cannot find new directory via windows explorer neither.

I have installed django 2.0.5 version and python 3.6.3 (32-bit).
djangoproblem.JPG

Anthony Flury

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May 2, 2018, 7:08:04 PM5/2/18
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Lets troubleshoot:

* Does the directory show up when you do a *dir* command in projectdir ?
* Can you do anything on the *mysite* directory - can you rename it,
or even delete it ?
* Can you see it in File explorer
* Can you manually create a directory in your *projectdir* ?
* Can you create a different projectdir - and run *django-admin
startproject mysite* in there ?

My gut feeling is that this is a diskdrive/OS type issue - rather than
Django specific

You may have a corrupted directory - or a bad section of disk; try the
troubleshooting steps above first.



On 02/05/18 22:09, Daisy wrote:
> I installed django according to provided instructions and I am trying
> to follow the Django article: Writing your first Django app, part 1
> <https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/intro/tutorial01/> but I am
> stuck at Creating a project with command: django-admin startproject
> mysite.
> The problem is that I CAN execute command but when I try to access
> directory with cd mysite I get the message "The system cannot find the
> path specified." although when I try to execute command startproject
> again I get the message that it already exists. (see attachment)
> I cannot find new directory via windows explorer neither.
> I have installed django 2.0.5 version and python 3.6.3 (32-bit).
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Daisy

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May 3, 2018, 1:59:34 AM5/3/18
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Thank you very much for your reply, and here I my answers:
  * Does the directory show up when you do a *dir* command in projectdir ? It does not show up, although it says that there are 2 directories (see attachment). 

  * Can you do anything on the *mysite* directory - can you rename it, 
    or even delete it ? I can't - system cannot find the file specified.
  * Can you see it in File explorer - No.
  * Can you manually create a directory in your *projectdir* ? - Yes, and it is displayed after command *dir*.

  * Can you create a different projectdir - and run *django-admin 
    startproject mysite* in there ? - I tried creating it on different paths, both on C and D disk, but it was the same behavior.

What can I do now? :)
directories.JPG

Anthony Flury

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May 3, 2018, 3:10:17 AM5/3/18
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On 03/05/18 06:59, Daisy wrote:
> Thank you very much for your reply, and here I my answers:
>   * Does the directory show up when you do a *dir* command in
> projectdir ? It does not show up, although it says that there are 2
> directories (see attachment).
Those two directories '.' & '..' are standard in every directory
>   * Can you do anything on the *mysite* directory - can you rename it,
>     or even delete it ? I can't - system cannot find the file specified.
Very odd - points to a an OS/disk problem to be honest - I am not sure
Django is doing anything clever.
>   * Can you see it in File explorer - No.
>   * Can you manually create a directory in your *projectdir* ? - Yes,
> and it is displayed after command *dir*.
>   * Can you create a different projectdir - and run *django-admin
>     startproject mysite* in there ? - I tried creating it on different
> paths, both on C and D disk, but it was the same behavior.
>
> What can I do now? :)
>

Have you tried write a small Python application that creates a directory :

         from os import mkdirs
         top_dir = path.join(os.getcwd(), name)
         mkdirs(top_dir)

Copy that to a python file called '*create_dir.py*' in your *projectdir*
- and run it by this command '*python create_dir.py*'

One you run it you should have a new empty directory called
'python_created_me' - running the comand again should result in an error.

The reason for doing this is to check that the Python code that Django
is using does work ok.

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Daisy

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May 3, 2018, 3:25:02 AM5/3/18
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I tried what you suggested and got this:
D:\projectdir>python create_dir.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "create_dir.py", line 1, in <module>
    from os import mkdirs
ImportError: cannot import name 'mkdirs'

Gerald Brown

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May 3, 2018, 3:50:19 AM5/3/18
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Is Django installed on your C: or D: drive?  If it is on C: then "mysite" should also be on C:

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Duška Miloradović

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May 3, 2018, 3:53:23 AM5/3/18
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It is on C. I tried to create "mysite" also on C path but the result is the same.

On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 9:49 AM, Gerald Brown <gsbr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is Django installed on your C: or D: drive?  If it is on C: then "mysite" should also be on C:


On Thursday, 03 May, 2018 03:25 PM, Daisy wrote:
I tried what you suggested and got this:
D:\projectdir>python create_dir.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "create_dir.py", line 1, in <module>
    from os import mkdirs
ImportError: cannot import name 'mkdirs'

среда, 02. мај 2018. 23.13.29 UTC+2, Daisy је написао/ла:
I installed django according to provided instructions and I am trying to follow the Django article: Writing your first Django app, part 1 but I am stuck at Creating a project with command: django-admin startproject mysite.
The problem is that I CAN execute command but when I try to access directory with cd mysite I get the message "The system cannot find the path specified." although when I try to execute command startproject again I get the message that it already exists. (see attachment)
I cannot find new directory via windows explorer neither.
I have installed django 2.0.5 version and python 3.6.3 (32-bit).
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Ayser shuhaib

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May 3, 2018, 7:21:13 AM5/3/18
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Create your projectdir manually then inside the projectdir folder (right click with your mouse and open command window here)
After that continue with Django commands
django-admin startproject ...

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Umar Kambala

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May 3, 2018, 7:26:48 AM5/3/18
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That its not recognized as internal or external command

django-admin startproject ...

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Duška Miloradović

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May 3, 2018, 8:24:18 AM5/3/18
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Ayser, thank you very much but that did not help neither. It is still the same - command ends successfully but still I do not see new folder created.

django-admin startproject ...

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James Farris

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May 3, 2018, 9:44:51 AM5/3/18
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If you run these two commands from your command line, what is the output?

python -V 
django-admin.py version
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Duška Miloradović

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May 3, 2018, 10:36:08 AM5/3/18
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I wrote what versions I have installed in first post, but here is a result of what you've asked:
For the first command output is: Python 3.6.3 and for the second: 2.0.5


python -V 
django-admin.py version
django-admin startproject ...

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Anthony Flury

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May 3, 2018, 11:09:01 AM5/3/18
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On 03/05/18 08:06, Anthony Flury wrote:
> On Thursday, 03 May, 2018 03:25 PM, Daisy wrote:
>
> I tried what you suggested and got this:
> D:\projectdir>python create_dir.py
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "create_dir.py", line 1, in <module>
>     from os import mkdirs
> ImportError: cannot import name 'mkdirs'
>
Sorry - that should be :

            import os
            top_dir = path.join(os.getcwd(), 'python_created_me')
            os.makedirs(top_dir)
>
> Copy that to a python file called '*create_dir.py*' in your
> *projectdir* - and run it by this command '*python create_dir.py*'
>
> One you run it you should have a new empty directory called
> 'python_created_me' - running the comand again should result in an error.
>
> The reason for doing this is to check that the Python code that Django
> is using does work ok.
>
The other thing you could do is to use the File Manager search to see if
'my_site' has been created else where on your system

Fidel Leon

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May 3, 2018, 12:03:24 PM5/3/18
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Please try to create a different project specifying -v 3:
$ django-admin startapp -v 3 mytest

The output should tell you where django-admin is creating its files and could be a clue about where is your mysite :)

django-admin startproject ...

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Duška Miloradović

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May 3, 2018, 12:06:35 PM5/3/18
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Anthony, I got this:

D:\projectdir>python create_dir.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "create_dir.py", line 2, in <module>
    top_dir = path.join(os.getcwd(), 'python_created_me')
NameError: name 'path' is not defined

I searched for it through windows explorer again and I actually found it on this strange location: C:\VTRoot\HarddiskVolume1\projectdir\mysite
Do you have any clue how this happened?
How to make things right? :)

Fidel Leon

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May 3, 2018, 12:10:28 PM5/3/18
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Duška Miloradović

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May 3, 2018, 12:19:18 PM5/3/18
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Yes? :/

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Fidel Leon

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May 3, 2018, 12:24:59 PM5/3/18
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As part of its protection, Comodo Antivirus has something named “sandboxing”, so when you execute anything, Comodo catches it, runs it inside a protected environment and if it finds it’s not malware, runs the actual command.

Seems Comodo is mapping your D: drive to that C:\VTRoot\HarddiskVolume1 thing, so django-admin gets fooled.

I haven’t used Comodo for decades so I can’t help with this exact issue, sorry - maybe disabling the antivirus while you’re at Django? O:-)

Fidel Leon

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Duška Miloradović

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May 3, 2018, 12:31:35 PM5/3/18
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Ha! I will try to see what will happen when I disable Comodo. I hope it will work properly then.

Thanks Fidel Leon.

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Anthony Flury

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May 3, 2018, 12:56:02 PM5/3/18
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Serves me right for writing code without testing :-(

It of course should be :

            import os
            top_dir = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'python_created_me')
            os.makedirs(top_dir)

Glad you have it sorted - and glad it turned out not to be Django ...

On 03/05/18 17:06, Duška Miloradović wrote:
> Anthony, I got this:
>
> D:\projectdir>python create_dir.py
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "create_dir.py", line 2, in <module>
>     top_dir = path.join(os.getcwd(), 'python_created_me')
> NameError: name 'path' is not defined
>
> I searched for it through windows explorer again and I actually *found
> it* on this strange location: C:\VTRoot\HarddiskVolume1\projectdir\mysite
> Do you have any clue how this happened?
> How to make things right? :)
>
> On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 5:08 PM, Anthony Flury
> <anthon...@btinternet.com <mailto:anthon...@btinternet.com>>
> <mailto:Anthon...@btinternet.com>*
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