Python Imported a Different socks Module Than You Expected

An error such as module 'socks' has no attribute 'create_connection' occurs before a successful proxy request. Start with the Python module the application imported.

import sys
import socks

print(sys.executable)
print(socks.__file__)
print(getattr(socks, '__version__', 'unknown'))

These inspection lines identify the interpreter and imported file. Read them in the same application environment that fails. A terminal using a different virtual environment can import another file with the same name.

Check for a local socks.py file or package shadowing the intended dependency. Python's module search path can make that file win over the installed package. Rename an accidental collision deliberately and restart the process that has already imported it.

PySocks' source contains both set_default_proxy and the compatibility spelling setdefaultproxy, along with create_connection. Blindly changing one spelling is therefore not a complete diagnosis of a missing attribute.

Once the imported module and version are correct, compare the code with that project's documented API. Avoid manually adding unrelated system library directories to Python's search path until the import appears to work. That can mix dependency versions and leave the underlying environment mismatch unresolved.