Error couldn't install openclip

[DeadSider-Art]

Using cached https://download.pytorch.org/whl/typing_extensions-4.15.0-py3-none-any.whl (44 kB)
Downloading filelock-3.25.2-py3-none-any.whl (26 kB)
Downloading fsspec-2026.2.0-py3-none-any.whl (202 kB)
Using cached https://download.pytorch.org/whl/jinja2-3.1.6-py3-none-any.whl (134 kB)
Using cached markupsafe-3.0.3-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl (15 kB)
Using cached networkx-3.4.2-py3-none-any.whl (1.7 MB)
Using cached numpy-2.2.6-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl (12.9 MB)
Installing collected packages: mpmath, typing-extensions, sympy, pillow, numpy, networkx, MarkupSafe, fsspec, filelock, jinja2, torch, torchvision
Successfully installed MarkupSafe-3.0.3 filelock-3.25.2 fsspec-2026.2.0 jinja2-3.1.6 mpmath-1.3.0 networkx-3.4.2 numpy-2.2.6 pillow-12.1.1 sympy-1.14.0 torch-2.7.0+cu128 torchvision-0.22.0+cu128 typing-extensions-4.15.0
Installing setuptools
Installing clip
Installing open_clip
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\Stable\webui\launch.py", line 53, in
main()
File "D:\Stable\webui\launch.py", line 44, in main
prepare_environment()
File "D:\Stable\webui\modules\launch_utils.py", line 446, in prepare_environment
run_pip(f"install {openclip_package}", "open_clip")
File "D:\Stable\webui\modules\launch_utils.py", line 142, in run_pip
return run(f'"{python}" -m pip {command} --prefer-binary{index_url_line}', desc=f"Installing {desc}", errdesc=f"Couldn't install {desc}", live=live)
File "D:\Stable\webui\modules\launch_utils.py", line 114, in run
raise RuntimeError("\n".join(error_bits))
RuntimeError: Couldn't install open_clip.
Command: "D:\Stable\system\python\python.exe" -m pip install https://github.com/mlfoundations/open_clip/archive/bb6e834e9c70d9c27d0dc3ecedeebeaeb1ffad6b.zip --prefer-binary
Error code: 2
stdout: Collecting https://github.com/mlfoundations/open_clip/archive/bb6e834e9c70d9c27d0dc3ecedeebeaeb1ffad6b.zip
Using cached https://github.com/mlfoundations/open_clip/archive/bb6e834e9c70d9c27d0dc3ecedeebeaeb1ffad6b.zip (10.0 MB)
Installing build dependencies: started
Installing build dependencies: finished with status 'done'
Getting requirements to build wheel: started
Getting requirements to build wheel: finished with status 'done'

stderr: ERROR: Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\cli\base_command.py", line 107, in _run_wrapper
status = _inner_run()
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\cli\base_command.py", line 98, in _inner_run
return self.run(options, args)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\cli\req_command.py", line 96, in wrapper
return func(self, options, args)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\commands\install.py", line 392, in run
requirement_set = resolver.resolve(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\resolver.py", line 79, in resolve
collected = self.factory.collect_root_requirements(root_reqs)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\factory.py", line 538, in collect_root_requirements
reqs = list(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\factory.py", line 494, in _make_requirements_from_install_req
cand = self._make_base_candidate_from_link(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\factory.py", line 226, in _make_base_candidate_from_link
self._link_candidate_cache[link] = LinkCandidate(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\candidates.py", line 318, in init
super().init(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\candidates.py", line 161, in init
self.dist = self._prepare()
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\candidates.py", line 238, in _prepare
dist = self._prepare_distribution()
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\resolution\resolvelib\candidates.py", line 329, in _prepare_distribution
return preparer.prepare_linked_requirement(self._ireq, parallel_builds=True)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\operations\prepare.py", line 542, in prepare_linked_requirement
return self._prepare_linked_requirement(req, parallel_builds)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\operations\prepare.py", line 657, in _prepare_linked_requirement
dist = _get_prepared_distribution(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\operations\prepare.py", line 77, in _get_prepared_distribution
abstract_dist.prepare_distribution_metadata(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\distributions\sdist.py", line 55, in prepare_distribution_metadata
self._install_build_reqs(build_env_installer)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\distributions\sdist.py", line 132, in _install_build_reqs
build_reqs = self._get_build_requires_wheel()
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\distributions\sdist.py", line 107, in _get_build_requires_wheel
return backend.get_requires_for_build_wheel()
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_internal\utils\misc.py", line 700, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
return super().get_requires_for_build_wheel(config_settings=cs)
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_vendor\pyproject_hooks_impl.py", line 196, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
return self._call_hook(
File "D:\Stable\system\python\lib\site-packages\pip_vendor\pyproject_hooks_impl.py", line 402, in _call_hook
raise BackendUnavailable(
pip._vendor.pyproject_hooks._impl.BackendUnavailable: Cannot import 'setuptools.build_meta'

what's wrong? and how can i fix it?

[sageliebi-maker]

Fix (fastest method)

Go to your Stable Diffusion Python folder and reinstall setuptools.

1. Open Command Prompt

Navigate to your Stable Diffusion folder:
cd D:\Stable\webui

2. Activate the Python environment and reinstall tools
Run these commands one by one:

D:\Stable\system\python\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
D:\Stable\system\python\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel

3. Then start Stable Diffusion again
Run:
webui-user.bat

The installer should now successfully install open_clip.

If the error still appears (rare)

Run this extra fix:
D:\Stable\system\python\python.exe -m pip install --force-reinstall setuptools

glhf

[sageliebi-maker]

what's wrong?
The important line in your error is this:

BackendUnavailable: Cannot import 'setuptools.build_meta'

This means setuptools is missing or broken in your Python environment, so pip cannot build the open_clip package.
Even though the installer printed “Installing setuptools”, it likely did not install correctly inside your Stable Diffusion Python environment.

[DeadSider-Art]

Thank you so much.