installing Gdal on Windows 10 with python 3.6.4: fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: ‘cpl_port.h’

So I am trying to pip install gdal but got an error.

  extensions/gdal_wrap.cpp(3168): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'cpl_port.h': No such file or directory
  error: command 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.13.26128\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2

So I am running the following:

• Python 3.6.4 anaconda distribution
• Windows 10 (x64)
• Microsoft Visual 2017 Redistribute both x64 and x86 (both installed by the vs builder tool)

MS Visual was installed because of this error before

error: Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 is required. Get it with "Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools": http://landinghub.visualstudio.com/visual-cpp-build-tools

Here is the trace log for the error:

 C:UsersDesktop>pip install gdal
Collecting gdal
  Using cached GDAL-2.2.4.tar.gz
Building wheels for collected packages: gdal
  Running setup.py bdist_wheel for gdal ... error
  Complete output from command c:usersenvsecoscanscriptspython.exe -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='C:\Users\0\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-wc3za_f8\gdal\setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('rn', 'n');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, 'exec'))" bdist_wheel -d C:UsersAppDataLocalTemptmp9t7nk1ompip-wheel- --python-tag cp36:
  running bdist_wheel
  running build
  running build_py
  creating build
  creating buildlib.win-amd64-3.6
  copying gdal.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6
  copying ogr.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6
  copying osr.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6
  copying gdalconst.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6
  copying gnm.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6
  creating buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeogdal.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeogdalconst.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeogdalnumeric.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeogdal_array.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeognm.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeoogr.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeoosr.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  copying osgeo__init__.py -> buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo
  Fixing buildlib.win-amd64-3.6gdal.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6ogr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6gdalconst.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6gnm.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdal.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdalconst.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdalnumeric.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdal_array.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeognm.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeoogr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeoosr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo__init__.py
  Skipping optional fixer: ws_comma
  Fixing buildlib.win-amd64-3.6gdal.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6ogr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6gdalconst.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6gnm.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdal.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdalconst.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdalnumeric.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeogdal_array.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeognm.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeoogr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeoosr.py buildlib.win-amd64-3.6osgeo__init__.py
  Skipping optional fixer: ws_comma
  running build_ext
  building 'osgeo._gdal' extension
  creating buildtemp.win-amd64-3.6
  creating buildtemp.win-amd64-3.6Release
  creating buildtemp.win-amd64-3.6Releaseextensions
  C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017BuildToolsVCToolsMSVC14.13.26128binHostX86x64cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -I../../port -I../../gcore -I../../alg -I../../ogr/ -I../../ogr/ogrsf_frmts -I../../gnm -I../../apps -Ic:usersanaconda3include -Ic:usersanaconda3include -I. "-IC:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017BuildToolsVCToolsMSVC14.13.26128include" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.16299.0ucrt" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.16299.0shared" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.16299.0um" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.16299.0winrt" "-IC:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits10include10.0.16299.0cppwinrt" /EHsc /Tpextensions/gdal_wrap.cpp /Fobuildtemp.win-amd64-3.6Releaseextensions/gdal_wrap.obj
  gdal_wrap.cpp
  extensions/gdal_wrap.cpp(3168): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'cpl_port.h': No such file or directory
  error: command 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.13.26128\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2

Any ideas how to fix this? I just want use the ogr2ogr in gdal to convert .shp to GeoJSON then to topojson.

Answer

I had the same problem and found the solution here: gdal-installation-error-using-pip

That is: download the wheel file and install from the command line.