title: Pyinstaller "failed to import the site module"
body: <p>I've been trying to use PyInstaller for some time as it can turn a Python script into a single <code>.exe</code> file, instead of having a lib file and DLLs like <code>cx_freeze</code> does for example. So it's easier for my users to update the program when I push as it's &quot;less&quot; stuff to download.</p>
  <p>However, when I run &quot;pyinstaller CLI.py&quot;, I get the following error:</p>
  <pre><code>76 INFO: PyInstaller: 4.3
  76 INFO: Python: 3.9.5
  87 INFO: Platform: Windows-10-10.0.19042-SP0
  88 INFO: wrote C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\UnknownAIO\CLI.spec
  91 INFO: UPX is not available.
  92 INFO: Extending PYTHONPATH with paths
  ['C:\\Users\\Admin\\Desktop\\UnknownAIO',
   'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\Lib\\site-packages\\site.py',
   'C:\\Users\\Admin\\Desktop\\UnknownAIO']
  104 INFO: checking Analysis
  104 INFO: Building Analysis because Analysis-00.toc is non existent
  104 INFO: Initializing module dependency graph...
  108 INFO: Caching module graph hooks...
  115 WARNING: Several hooks defined for module 'win32ctypes.core'. Please take care they do not conflict.
  119 INFO: Analyzing base_library.zip ...
  Fatal Python error: init_import_site: Failed to import the site module
  Python runtime state: initialized
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 617, in &lt;module&gt;
      main()
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 604, in main
      known_paths = addsitepackages(known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 387, in addsitepackages
      addsitedir(sitedir, known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 226, in addsitedir
      addpackage(sitedir, name, known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 175, in addpackage
      f = io.TextIOWrapper(io.open_code(fullname), encoding=&quot;locale&quot;)
  LookupError: unknown encoding: locale
  Fatal Python error: init_import_site: Failed to import the site module
  Python runtime state: initialized
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 617, in &lt;module&gt;
      main()
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 604, in main
      known_paths = addsitepackages(known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 387, in addsitepackages
      addsitedir(sitedir, known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 226, in addsitedir
      addpackage(sitedir, name, known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 175, in addpackage
      f = io.TextIOWrapper(io.open_code(fullname), encoding=&quot;locale&quot;)
  LookupError: unknown encoding: locale
  2115 INFO: Processing pre-find module path hook distutils from 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\lib\\site-packages\\PyInstaller\\hooks\\pre_find_module_path\\hook-distutils.py'.
  2116 INFO: distutils: retargeting to non-venv dir 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\lib'
  4439 INFO: Caching module dependency graph...
  4528 INFO: running Analysis Analysis-00.toc
  4542 INFO: Adding Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls to dependent assemblies of final executable
    required by c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python39\python.exe
  4604 WARNING: lib not found: api-ms-win-core-path-l1-1-0.dll dependency of c:\users\admin\appdata\local\programs\python\python39\python39.dll
  4614 INFO: Analyzing C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\UnknownAIO\CLI.py
  5032 INFO: Processing pre-find module path hook site from 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\lib\\site-packages\\PyInstaller\\hooks\\pre_find_module_path\\hook-site.py'.
  5033 INFO: site: retargeting to fake-dir 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\lib\\site-packages\\PyInstaller\\fake-modules'
  8190 INFO: Processing pre-safe import module hook urllib3.packages.six.moves from 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python39\\lib\\site-packages\\PyInstaller\\hooks\\pre_safe_import_module\\hook-urllib3.packages.six.moves.py'.
  Fatal Python error: init_import_site: Failed to import the site module
  Python runtime state: initialized
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 617, in &lt;module&gt;
      main()
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 604, in main
      known_paths = addsitepackages(known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 387, in addsitepackages
      addsitedir(sitedir, known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 226, in addsitedir
      addpackage(sitedir, name, known_paths)
    File &quot;C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\lib\site-packages\site.py&quot;, line 175, in addpackage
      f = io.TextIOWrapper(io.open_code(fullname), encoding=&quot;locale&quot;)
  LookupError: unknown encoding: locale
  pre-safe-import-module hook failed, needs fixing.
  </code></pre>
  <p>Any help would be amazing.</p>