The safest fix would be to make subprocess strip double-quotes from the executable path.

Double quote (") is not an allowed character in Windows file systems.  There is no case under 
which it can be correct to spawn a process in Windows where the path is quoted.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx

On Dec 27, 2014, at 4:04 PM, Joshua Ellinger <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:

> 
> Joshua Ellinger added the comment:
> 
> Having pip not work after a straight install to the normal place you'd install it on windows can't be a feature.
> 
> Even after I changed the .exe, pip itself breaks on the same problem.  Basically, you can't install python to
> the normal place on windows until this is fixed.
> 
> Josh
> 
> On Dec 27, 2014, at 9:49 AM, Steve Dower <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Steve Dower added the comment:
>> 
>> I've previously reported this issue against setuptools (which generates the executable) and apparently they consider it a "feature". I don't have the link handy from my phone, but if you find the issue on bitbucket you can help attract some more attention to this.
>> 
>> ----------
>> 
>> _______________________________________
>> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
>> <http://bugs.python.org/issue23121>
>> _______________________________________
> 
> ----------
> 
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue23121>
> _______________________________________