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BinAssist on Windows - Installation Guide

This guide covers the steps required to get BinAssist and BinAssistMCP plugins working on Windows with Binary Ninja.

Prerequisites

The Problem

Binary Ninja on Windows uses a bundled Python environment, but: 1. It doesn’t fully process .pth files during site initialization 2. The mcp library requires pywin32, which needs special DLL handling on Windows 3. Packages must be installed to Binary Ninja’s user site-packages, not the system Python

Step 1: Configure Binary Ninja Python Environment

In Binary Ninja, go to Settings → Python and configure: - Python Environment: C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\plugins\python\python310.dll - Site-packages: C:/Users/<username>/AppData/Roaming/Binary Ninja/python310/site-packages

This ensures packages are installed to a user-writable location.

Step 2: Install pywin32 DLLs (Administrator Required)

The pywin32 package includes DLLs that must be accessible at runtime. Copy them to the Binary Ninja installation folder.

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

copy "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Binary Ninja\python310\site-packages\pywin32_system32\*.dll" "C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\"

Or if pywin32 is in the Program Files site-packages:

copy "C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\plugins\python\Lib\site-packages\pywin32_system32\*.dll" "C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\"

This copies pythoncom310.dll and pywintypes310.dll to a location on the DLL search path.

Step 3: Install Plugin Dependencies

Install all required packages to Binary Ninja’s user site-packages using --target:

Install pywin32:

"C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\plugins\python\python.exe" -m pip install --target "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Binary Ninja\python310\site-packages" pywin32

Install BinAssist dependencies:

"C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\plugins\python\python.exe" -m pip install --target "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Binary Ninja\python310\site-packages" -r "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Binary Ninja\plugins\BinAssist\requirements.txt"

Install BinAssistMCP dependencies:

"C:\Program Files\Vector35\BinaryNinja\plugins\python\python.exe" -m pip install --target "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Binary Ninja\python310\site-packages" -r "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Binary Ninja\plugins\BinAssistMCP\requirements.txt"

Note: Replace <username> with your actual Windows username, or use %APPDATA% in the path (though --target may not expand environment variables).

Step 4: Restart Binary Ninja

Close all Binary Ninja instances and restart. The plugins should now load correctly.

Verification

In Binary Ninja’s Python console, verify the imports work:

import pywintypes
print("pywintypes OK")

import mcp
print("mcp OK")

Notes: pywin32 Path Fix (Already Applied - For Reference Only)

Binary Ninja doesn’t process .pth files, so the win32 and win32\lib directories aren’t automatically added to sys.path.

Both plugins include a fix in their __init__.py that adds these paths before importing the mcp library:

# Fix pywin32 paths on Windows (required for mcp library)
# Binary Ninja doesn't process .pth files, so we add the paths manually
import sys
import os
if sys.platform == 'win32':
    _site_packages = os.path.join(os.environ.get('APPDATA', ''), 'Binary Ninja', 'python310', 'site-packages')
    _win32_paths = [
        os.path.join(_site_packages, 'win32'),
        os.path.join(_site_packages, 'win32', 'lib'),
        os.path.join(_site_packages, 'Pythonwin'),
    ]
    for _p in _win32_paths:
        if _p not in sys.path and os.path.isdir(_p):
            sys.path.insert(0, _p)

This code is already included in the plugin source.

Troubleshooting

“ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘pywintypes’”

“Access is denied” when installing packages

Packages installing to wrong location

Check sys.path

In Binary Ninja’s Python console:

import sys
print('\n'.join(sys.path))

Ensure your roaming site-packages and the win32 subdirectories are listed.