'Troubleshooting pycocotools installation

I'm trying to use object detection models from Tensorflow and need to get pycocotools installed. I'm doing this from a python (3) virtual environment on a Windows 10 machine. There seems to be some known issues around getting this working on Windows, and I'm pretty sure I've tried them all.

I've tried pip-installing pycocotools, with this error (fails building wheel):

(env) PS C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection> pip install pycocotools
Collecting pycocotools
  Using cached pycocotools-2.0.2.tar.gz (23 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: setuptools>=18.0 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from pycocotools) (56.0.0)
Requirement already satisfied: cython>=0.27.3 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from pycocotools) (0.29.23)
Requirement already satisfied: matplotlib>=2.1.0 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from pycocotools) (3.4.2)
Requirement already satisfied: pyparsing>=2.2.1 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (2.4.7)
Requirement already satisfied: cycler>=0.10 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (0.10.0)
Requirement already satisfied: pillow>=6.2.0 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (8.2.0)
Requirement already satisfied: numpy>=1.16 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (1.19.5)
Requirement already satisfied: kiwisolver>=1.0.1 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (1.3.1)
Requirement already satisfied: python-dateutil>=2.7 in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (2.8.1)
Requirement already satisfied: six in c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages (from cycler>=0.10->matplotlib>=2.1.0->pycocotools) (1.15.0)
Building wheels for collected packages: pycocotools
  Building wheel for pycocotools (setup.py) ... error
  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
   command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-hjka7e0k\\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-hjka7e0k\\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' bdist_wheel -d 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-wheel-i_wesduj'
       cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-hjka7e0k\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\
  Complete output (23 lines):
  running bdist_wheel
  running build
  running build_py
  creating build
  creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9
  creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\coco.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\cocoeval.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\mask.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\__init__.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  running build_ext
  cythoning pycocotools/_mask.pyx to pycocotools\_mask.c
  c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Compiler\Main.py:369: FutureWarning: Cython directive 'language_level' not set, using 2 for now (Py2). This will change in a later release! File: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-hjka7e0k\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\pycocotools\_mask.pyx
    tree = Parsing.p_module(s, pxd, full_module_name)
  building 'pycocotools._mask' extension
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\common
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\pycocotools
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\numpy\core\include -I./common -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\ATLMFC\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include /Tc./common/maskApi.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\./common/maskApi.obj
  maskApi.c
  ./common/maskApi.c(8): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'math.h': No such file or directory
  error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.29.30037\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2
  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for pycocotools
  Running setup.py clean for pycocotools
Failed to build pycocotools
Installing collected packages: pycocotools
    Running setup.py install for pycocotools ... error
    ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
     command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-hjka7e0k\\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-hjka7e0k\\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-crzypf9k\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include\site\python3.9\pycocotools'
         cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-hjka7e0k\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\
    Complete output (21 lines):
    running install
    running build
    running build_py
    creating build
    creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9
    creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
    copying pycocotools\coco.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
    copying pycocotools\cocoeval.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
    copying pycocotools\mask.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
    copying pycocotools\__init__.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
    running build_ext
    skipping 'pycocotools\_mask.c' Cython extension (up-to-date)
    building 'pycocotools._mask' extension
    creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9
    creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release
    creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\common
    creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\pycocotools
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\numpy\core\include -I./common -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\ATLMFC\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include /Tc./common/maskApi.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\./common/maskApi.obj
    maskApi.c
    ./common/maskApi.c(8): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'math.h': No such file or directory
    error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.29.30037\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2
    ----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-hjka7e0k\\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-hjka7e0k\\pycocotools_91d3c7ee2ad946f292455cc0fc685c5f\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-crzypf9k\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include\site\python3.9\pycocotools' Check the logs for full command output.

I've tried the fix from Phil Ferriere's repository (still fails building wheel, something with math.h file not found):

(env) PS C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection> pip install git+https://github.com/philferriere/cocoapi.git#subdirectory=PythonAPI
Collecting git+https://github.com/philferriere/cocoapi.git#subdirectory=PythonAPI
  Cloning https://github.com/philferriere/cocoapi.git to c:\users\la01043601\appdata\local\temp\pip-req-build-htao1r08
  Running command git clone -q https://github.com/philferriere/cocoapi.git 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-htao1r08'
Building wheels for collected packages: pycocotools
  Building wheel for pycocotools (setup.py) ... error
  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
   command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' bdist_wheel -d 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-wheel-kktx8s70'
       cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-htao1r08\PythonAPI
  Complete output (20 lines):
  running bdist_wheel
  running build
  running build_py
  creating build
  creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9
  creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\coco.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\cocoeval.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\mask.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\__init__.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  running build_ext
  building 'pycocotools._mask' extension
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\common
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\pycocotools
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\numpy\core\include -I../common -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\ATLMFC\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include /Tc../common/maskApi.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\../common/maskApi.obj
  maskApi.c
  ../common/maskApi.c(8): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'math.h': No such file or directory
  error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.29.30037\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2
  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for pycocotools
  Running setup.py clean for pycocotools
  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
   command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' clean --all
       cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-htao1r08
  Complete output (11 lines):
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
    File "C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-htao1r08\PythonAPI\setup.py", line 25, in <module>
      cythonize(ext_modules)
    File "c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Build\Dependencies.py", line 965, in cythonize
      module_list, module_metadata = create_extension_list(
    File "c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Build\Dependencies.py", line 815, in create_extension_list
      for file in nonempty(sorted(extended_iglob(filepattern)), "'%s' doesn't match any files" % filepattern):
    File "c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Build\Dependencies.py", line 114, in nonempty
      raise ValueError(error_msg)
  ValueError: 'pycocotools/_mask.pyx' doesn't match any files
  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed cleaning build dir for pycocotools
Failed to build pycocotools
Installing collected packages: pycocotools
    Running setup.py install for pycocotools ... error
    ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
     command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-ok0x1q7g\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include\site\python3.9\pycocotools'
         cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-htao1r08\PythonAPI
    Complete output (9 lines):
    running install
    running build
    running build_py
    running build_ext
    building 'pycocotools._mask' extension
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\numpy\core\include -I../common -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\ATLMFC\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include /Tc../common/maskApi.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\../common/maskApi.obj
    maskApi.c
    ../common/maskApi.c(8): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'math.h': No such file or directory
    error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.29.30037\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2
    ----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-htao1r08\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-ok0x1q7g\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include\site\python3.9\pycocotools' Check the logs for full command output.

I've tried installing Visual C++ Build Tools (2015 version recommended by many other answers), but got the error that it was unable to find/download setup package, so I've made sure I have updates to the 2019 build tools, and they are added to my path. Error I was getting is like this one. I also followed the video at the bottom of that solution and it didn't help.

I've tried using the suggested windows install for pycocotools (pycocotools-windows), which gives the following error:

(env) PS C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection> pip install cocoapi-windows
ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement cocoapi-windows (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for cocoapi-windows
(env) PS C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection> pip install pycocotools-windows
ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement pycocotools-windows (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for pycocotools-windows

Python and pip are on my Windows path. I gave up on one tutorial due to this, just to find the next one has a pycocotools dependency too.

(Also accepting suggestions for Tensorflow object detection tutorials that do not use pycocotools! Need a decent tutorial because I'm a beginner).

Edit: Have now also tried running the setup.py file the following way, still having issues with not finding a math.h file...

(env) PS C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection\sandbox\cocoapi\PythonAPI> python setup.py build_ext --inplace
Compiling pycocotools/_mask.pyx because it changed.
[1/1] Cythonizing pycocotools/_mask.pyx
C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Compiler\Main.py:369: FutureWarning: Cython directive 'language_level' not set, using 2 for now (Py2). This will change in a later release! File: C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection\sandbox\cocoapi\PythonAPI\pycocotools\_mask.pyx
  tree = Parsing.p_module(s, pxd, full_module_name)
running build_ext
building 'pycocotools._mask' extension
creating build
creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9
creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\common
creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release
creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\pycocotools
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -IC:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection\env\lib\site-packages\numpy\core\include -I../common -IC:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection\env\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\ATLMFC\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include /Tc../common/maskApi.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\../common/maskApi.obj
maskApi.c
../common/maskApi.c(8): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'math.h': No such file or directory
error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.29.30037\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2

Edit edit I forgot to mention that in the past couple days I also tried troubleshooting the math.h error, which suggests switching an include statement from "math.h" to "cmath", and using "quotes" instead of angle brackets, and since this happens when installing from a downloaded repo I even forked the repo the made the change on my version to download from there. Error as follows (now related to a missing 'crtdbg.h' file and I don't understand how everything works under the hood in Build Tools):

(env) PS C:\Users\la01043601\ML_CameraVision\humanDetection> pip install git+https://github.com/Broccoli-Hunter/cocoapi.git#subdirectory=PythonAPI
Collecting git+https://github.com/Broccoli-Hunter/cocoapi.git#subdirectory=PythonAPI
  Cloning https://github.com/Broccoli-Hunter/cocoapi.git to c:\users\la01043601\appdata\local\temp\pip-req-build-atepfcnd
  Running command git clone -q https://github.com/Broccoli-Hunter/cocoapi.git 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-atepfcnd'
Building wheels for collected packages: pycocotools
  Building wheel for pycocotools (setup.py) ... error
  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
   command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-atepfcnd\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-atepfcnd\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' bdist_wheel -d 'C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-wheel-4bje9txk'
       cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-atepfcnd\PythonAPI
  Complete output (20 lines):
  running bdist_wheel
  running build
  running build_py
  creating build
  creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9
  creating build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\coco.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\cocoeval.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\mask.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  copying pycocotools\__init__.py -> build\lib.win-amd64-3.9\pycocotools
  running build_ext
  building 'pycocotools._mask' extension
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\common
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release
  creating build\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\pycocotools
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\HostX86\x64\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MD -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\numpy\core\include -I../common -Ic:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Python39\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\ATLMFC\include -IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include /Tc../common/maskApi.c /Fobuild\temp.win-amd64-3.9\Release\../common/maskApi.obj
  maskApi.c
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\include\yvals.h(12): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'crtdbg.h': No such file or directory
  error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\BuildTools\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.29.30037\\bin\\HostX86\\x64\\cl.exe' failed with exit code 2
  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for pycocotools
  Running setup.py clean for pycocotools
  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
   command: 'c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\scripts\python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-atepfcnd\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\la01043601\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-req-build-atepfcnd\\PythonAPI\\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' clean --all
       cwd: C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-atepfcnd
  Complete output (11 lines):
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
    File "C:\Users\la01043601\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-atepfcnd\PythonAPI\setup.py", line 25, in <module>
      cythonize(ext_modules)
    File "c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Build\Dependencies.py", line 965, in cythonize
      module_list, module_metadata = create_extension_list(
    File "c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Build\Dependencies.py", line 815, in create_extension_list
      for file in nonempty(sorted(extended_iglob(filepattern)), "'%s' doesn't match any files" % filepattern):
    File "c:\users\la01043601\ml_cameravision\humandetection\env\lib\site-packages\Cython\Build\Dependencies.py", line 114, in nonempty
      raise ValueError(error_msg)
  ValueError: 'pycocotools/_mask.pyx' doesn't match any files
  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed cleaning build dir for pycocotools
Failed to build pycocotools


Solution 1:[1]

I managed to install pycocotools only after downloading the installer from this link and installing these: Install these

Solution 2:[2]

me too! I ran "pip install pycocotools" on Linux, same error like this:

 running build_ext
  creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.7
  creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.7/common
  creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.7/pycocotools
  gcc -pthread -B /home/ppp/anaconda3/envs/openmmlab/compiler_compat -Wl,--sysroot=/ -Wsign-compare -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/tmp/pip-build-env-qzv5sdb4/overlay/lib/python3.7/site-packages/numpy/core/include -I./common -I/home/ppp/anaconda3/envs/openmmlab/include/python3.7m -c ./common/maskApi.c -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.7/./common/maskApi.o -Wno-cpp -Wno-unused-function -std=c99
  ./common/maskApi.c:8:18: fatal error: math.h: No such file or directory
  compilation terminated.
  error: command '/usr/bin/gcc' failed with exit code 1
  ----------------------------------------
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for pycocotools
Failed to build pycocotools
ERROR: Could not build wheels for pycocotools which use PEP 517 and cannot be installed directly

I solved the problem by conda install pycocotools -c conda-forge

ps: python version==3.7.12

Solution 3:[3]

after everything failed, I installed visual c++ build tools using the link below

Visit https://myvs.download.prss.microsoft.com/db/mu_visual_cpp_build_tools_2015_update_3_x64_dvd_dfd9a39c.iso?t=36429cde-dc63-4657-8114-1c74ae0da9bf&e=1645739068&h=e153f9afa2fa5fd4ffae5a1cc714a2ab704115af952dfb82e1761e5553c7999a&su=1

after it has downloaded open it and run the setup file, everything should run smoothly.

Then in your environment run this code:- pip install cython

then this one:

pip install git+https://github.com/philferriere/cocoapi.git#subdirectory=PythonAPI

that should work, I am using TensorFlow version 2.3, Python 3.8

Solution 4:[4]

Don't Forget to Restart your pc after install visual c++ build tools, in my case everything not working until I restart my PC after installing the build tools.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 Jia Huei
Solution 2 poirot
Solution 3 Jubilee M. Sibanda
Solution 4 Rikudo Pain