How do I include files with pyinstaller?

Question

I have made a program with python 3.7 using tkinter aswell. Since I am using external pictures I need to include them when I compile everything to one exe. I have tried doing --add-data "bg.png;files" but I still get this error:

_tkinter.TclError: couldn't open "files/bg.png": no such file or directory

Here is the code:

image = PhotoImage(file="files/bg.png")
w = image.width()
h = image.height()
x = 316
y = 246
mainGui.geometry("%dx%d+%d+%d" % (w, h, x, y))
panel = Label(mainGui, image=image)
panel.pack(side='top', fill='both', expand='yes')

What am I doing wrong? I have tried --add-binary as well, adding the file to my spec file. Seriously can't figure this out!

Solution

Sorry, I thought that only -F/--one-file makes such behavior, but looks like any bundling with pyinstaller needs such changes.

You need to change your code like this, as explained in this answer:

import sys

if getattr(sys, 'frozen', False):
    image = PhotoImage(file=os.path.join(sys._MEIPASS, "files/bg.png"))
else:
    image = PhotoImage(file="files/bg.png")

And then bundle it with pyinstaller like this:

pyinstaller --clean -y -n "output_name" --add-data="files\bg.png;files" script.py

Comments

[Michael L]

You are a legend, thank you soooo much! Works flawless!

[Michael L]

Just a small update. I have some sound aswell and I tried adapting those lines into my winsound.Playsound, but it doesn't seem to take it the same way as tkinter does. winsound.PlaySound(os.path.join(sys._MEIPASS, "files/bgm.wav", winsound.SND_LOOP + winsound.SND_ASYNC)) Do you know how to formulate it so python understand it? @Kamal Don't really understand how I can use the 'code' function here on stackoverflow, so it hope its possible to read it.

[Kamal]

You have closed the parenthesis of os.path.join at wrong position, try: winsound.PlaySound(os.path.join(sys._MEIPASS, "files/bgm.wav"), winsound.SND_LOOP+winsound.SND_ASYNC). And check here for formatting help.

[Michael L]

That did it, thanks for all the help @Kamal! I started programming a week ago, feels good to learn new stuff all the time!