[Python] "Django: Cannot use ImageField because Pillow is not installed (Python 3.13, Windows)

PS C:\Users\ltaye\ecommerce> python manage.py runserver Watching for file changes with StatReloader Performing system checks...

Exception in thread django-main-thread: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Users\ltaye\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\threading.py", line 1043, in _bootstrap_inner self.run() ~~~~~~~~^^ File "C:\Users\ltaye\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\threading.py", line 994, in run self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs) ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "C:\Users\ltaye\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\site-packages\django\utils\autoreload.py", line 64, in wrapper fn(*args, **kwargs) ~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "C:\Users\ltaye\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\site-packages\django\core\management\commands\runserver.py", line 134, in inner_run self.check(**check_kwargs) ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "C:\Users\ltaye\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\site-packages\django\core\management\base.py", line 569, in check raise SystemCheckError(msg) django.core.management.base.SystemCheckError: SystemCheckError: System check identified some issues:

ERRORS: store.Product.image: (fields.E210) Cannot use ImageField because Pillow is not installed.
HINT: Get Pillow at https://pypi.org/project/Pillow/ or run command "python -m pip install Pillow".

System check identified 1 issue (0 silenced).

I created a Django project and added a model with an ImageField. When I run python manage.py runserver, I get the following error:

SystemCheckError: Cannot use ImageField because Pillow is not installed.

I expected the server to start normally and let me upload images. I already tried:

Running python -m pip install Pillow

Running pip install Pillow inside my project virtual environment

Upgrading pip with python -m pip install --upgrade pip

But the error still shows up when I start the server.

I’m using Python 3.13 on Windows 11.

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