[Python] Error creating PyInstaller executable with Sentence Transformers model and Anaconda...

I'm trying to create an executable from a Python script using PyInstaller in an Anaconda environment. My script uses the Sentence Transformers library and loads a pre-trained model from a local folder (models/). Additionally, the project has several dependencies listed in a requirements.txt file.

The folder structure is as follows:

my_project/
├── app.py
├── extension_app.py
├── requirements.txt
└── models/
└── st_model/
├── config.json
├── config_sentence_transformers.json
└── ...


To create the executable, in my Anaconda environment, I used the following command: pyinstaller --onefile --windowed ^ --add-data "models;models" ^ --name "App" ^ app.py.

When I tried to run the .exe, this error appeared:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "app.py", line 10, in <module>
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
File "PyInstaller\loader\pyimod02_importers.py", line 450, in exec_module
File "sentence_transformers\__init__.py", line 14, in <module>
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
File "PyInstaller\loader\pyimod02_importers.py", line 450, in exec_module
File "sentence_transformers\cross_encoder\__init__.py", line 3, in <module>
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
File "PyInstaller\loader\pyimod02_importers.py", line 450, in exec_module
File "sentence_transformers\cross_encoder\CrossEncoder.py", line 19, in <module>
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1075, in _handle_fromlist
File "transformers\utils\import_utils.py", line 2045, in __getattr__
module = self._get_module(self._class_to_module[name])
File "transformers\utils\import_utils.py", line 2075, in _get_module
raise e
File "transformers\utils\import_utils.py", line 2073, in _get_module
return importlib.import_module("." + module_name, self.__name__)
File "importlib\__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1050, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
File "PyInstaller\loader\pyimod02_importers.py", line 450, in exec_module
File "transformers\models\__init__.py", line 341, in <module>
sys.modules[__name__] = _LazyModule(__name__, _file, define_import_structure(_file), module_spec=__spec__)
File "transformers\utils\import_utils.py", line 2594, in define_import_structure
import_structure = create_import_structure_from_path(module_path)
File "transformers\utils\import_utils.py", line 2305, in create_import_structure_from_path
for f in os.listdir(module_path):
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 3] The system cannot find the path specified: 'C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\_MEI362482\\transformers\\models\\__init__.pyc'


The imports in my code (app.py) are:

import customtkinter as ctk
import os
import shutil
import re
import dateparser
from PyPDF2 import PdfReader
import docx
from PIL import Image
import pytesseract
from sentence_transformers import SentenceTransformer, util
import CTkMessagebox
import extension_app # extension_app.py
import threading
import sys
import os

# Code...

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