This seems odd... PS D:\Data\PyPI> D:\Data\cpython\PCbuild\python -m packaging.run install nose installing third-party projects from an uninstalled Python is not supported And yet after downloading the nose source... PS D:\Data\PyPI> bsdtar xzf D:\Downloads\Python\nose-1.1.2.tar.gz PS D:\Data\PyPI> cd .\nose-1.1.2 PS D:\Data\PyPI\nose-1.1.2> D:\Data\cpython\PCbuild\python -m packaging.run install Installing from source directory: 'D:\\Data\\PyPI\\nose-1.1.2' Downloading http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/d/distribute/distribute-0.6.14.tar.gz Extracting in c:\users\gustav\appdata\local\temp\tmpecso_w Now working in c:\users\gustav\appdata\local\temp\tmpecso_w\distribute-0.6.14 Building a Distribute egg in D:\Data\PyPI\nose-1.1.2 warning: no files found matching 'Makefile' under directory 'docs' warning: no files found matching 'indexsidebar.html' under directory 'docs' creating build creating build\src ... etc (The build actually failed, but for reasons unrelated to the fact that it's an uninstalled Python, as far as I can see). Why not allow installing direct from PyPI? Paul.