Python error - IDLE's subprocess didn't make connection. Either IDLE can't start or personal firewall software is blocking connection

Question

I am new to programming and i decided to learn Python first, so;

I installed Python, latest version 3.4. and I am trying to open Python IDLE(GUI) mode, so when I open I

Answer 1

Simple...rename your .py file with some name different from any keyword name like 'random.py' which already exists in python package.

Eg. I named one file as "random.py". The same error popped up. I renamed it to "random_demo.py". It worked. The different naming discards the problem of ambiguity between an already existing file and a newly created file with same name.

Answer 2

Just had the same issue. So uninstalled and reinstalled which fixed it and took 10 minutes. The key with Windows machines is delete the old directory (C:\Python27\ because windows does seem to actually delete things) and when reinstalling specify a new directory (C:\Python279\ or whatever you choose to call it).

I am using Win 10 with Python 2.7.9.

Answer 3

For me: The drive pointed to by HOMEDRIVE was not writeable. I checked this by running idle the hard way, explicitly using python.exe rather than pythonw.exe:

C:\coding\xyz>"C:\Python27\Lib\idlelib\..\..\python.exe"  
"C:\Python27\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw"

 Warning: unable to create user config directory
P:\.idlerc
 Check path and permissions.
 Exiting!

Answer 4

I had a similar problem with a file called "test.py" and Python 2.7.9 - renaming the file to something else solved my issue. After checking, I noticed that there is a file with the same name under the Python27\Lib folder.

Seems to be a bug in IDLE.

Answer 5

It may be a common problem that happens when you have in you current directory a file with same name on one from Python (references : Can't run Python via IDLE from Explorer [2013] - IDLE's subprocess didn't make connection)

It seems it can also happen if you have incorrect environment variables such as HOMEPATH USERPROFILE (references : Issue 14576: IDLE: inconsistent use of HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH, and USERPROFILE on Windows)

I've found another related question : Python IDLE subprocess error?

My advice if the answer is not there : google may be your friend ! The 3 clues above come from there :-)