title: GeoDjango on Windows: Try setting GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH in your settings
body: <p>I've done this a dozen times before, but something isn't working this time..</p>
  
  <p>Following the docs:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/ref/contrib/gis/install/#windows" rel="noreferrer">https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/ref/contrib/gis/install/#windows</a></p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to set up GeoDjango on a Windows machine (this one is a virtual windows 10 set up on paperspace.com). There seems to be a problem with my PATH settings, but I can't figure out what it is. I've run the commands highlighted in the instructions. I've checked my PATH variables and everything seems ok. I've tried pointing them to both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of OSGeo4Win. Regardless, I get the following output every time:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Python\lib\site-packages\floppyforms\__init__.py:21: UserWarning: Unable to import floppyforms.gis, geometry widgets not available
    "Unable to import floppyforms.gis, geometry widgets not available")
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "manage.py", line 10, in &lt;module&gt;
      execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 363, in execute_from_command_line
      utility.execute()
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 337, in execute
      django.setup()
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\__init__.py", line 27, in setup
      apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\apps\registry.py", line 108, in populate
      app_config.import_models()
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\apps\config.py", line 202, in import_models
      self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
    File "C:\Python\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
      return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
    File "&lt;frozen importlib._bootstrap&gt;", line 978, in _gcd_import
    File "&lt;frozen importlib._bootstrap&gt;", line 961, in _find_and_load
    File "&lt;frozen importlib._bootstrap&gt;", line 950, in _find_and_load_unlocked
    File "&lt;frozen importlib._bootstrap&gt;", line 655, in _load_unlocked
    File "&lt;frozen importlib._bootstrap_external&gt;", line 678, in exec_module
    File "&lt;frozen importlib._bootstrap&gt;", line 205, in _call_with_frames_removed
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\auth\models.py", line 4, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.auth.base_user import AbstractBaseUser, BaseUserManager
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\auth\base_user.py", line 52, in &lt;module&gt;
      class AbstractBaseUser(models.Model):
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\base.py", line 124, in __new__
      new_class.add_to_class('_meta', Options(meta, app_label))
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\base.py", line 330, in add_to_class
      value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\options.py", line 214, in contribute_to_class
      self.db_table = truncate_name(self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length())
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\db\__init__.py", line 33, in __getattr__
      return getattr(connections[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS], item)
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\db\utils.py", line 211, in __getitem__
      backend = load_backend(db['ENGINE'])
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\db\utils.py", line 115, in load_backend
      return import_module('%s.base' % backend_name)
    File "C:\Python\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
      return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\db\backends\postgis\base.py", line 5, in &lt;module&gt;
      from .features import DatabaseFeatures
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\db\backends\postgis\features.py", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.db.backends.base.features import BaseSpatialFeatures
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\db\backends\base\features.py", line 4, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.db.models import aggregates
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\db\models\__init__.py", line 3, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.db.models.aggregates import *  # NOQA
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\db\models\aggregates.py", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.db.models.fields import ExtentField
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\db\models\fields.py", line 3, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis import forms, gdal
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\forms\__init__.py", line 3, in &lt;module&gt;
      from .fields import (  # NOQA
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\forms\fields.py", line 4, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.geos import GEOSException, GEOSGeometry
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\geos\__init__.py", line 5, in &lt;module&gt;
      from .collections import (  # NOQA
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\geos\collections.py", line 11, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.geos.geometry import GEOSGeometry, LinearGeometryMixin
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\geos\geometry.py", line 11, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis import gdal
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\gdal\__init__.py", line 28, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.gdal.datasource import DataSource
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\gdal\datasource.py", line 39, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.gdal.driver import Driver
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\gdal\driver.py", line 5, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.gdal.prototypes import ds as vcapi, raster as rcapi
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\gdal\prototypes\ds.py", line 9, in &lt;module&gt;
      from django.contrib.gis.gdal.libgdal import GDAL_VERSION, lgdal
    File "C:\Python\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\gis\gdal\libgdal.py", line 44, in &lt;module&gt;
      'GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH in your settings.' % '", "'.join(lib_names)
  django.contrib.gis.gdal.error.GDALException: Could not find the GDAL library (tried "gdal111", "gdal110", "gdal19", "gdal18", "gdal17"). Try setting GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH in your settings.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Does anyone have any ideas?</p>
  
  <p>UPDATE:
  I went to the store and bought a new laptop and I am still running into the same issue. Could it be an versioning issue with some of the GeoDjango dependencies? I'm at a loss for what to do, but it's kind of an emergency for me.</p>