# Cmake cannot locate VTK, VTK installation incomplete, VTK and paraview conflict
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-cannot-locate-vtk-vtk-installation-incomplete-vtk-and-paraview-conflict/13780
**Category:** Usage
**Created:** [March 19, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-cannot-locate-vtk-vtk-installation-incomplete-vtk-and-paraview-conflict/13780 "2025-03-19T11:18:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AP76](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/AP76)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-cannot-locate-vtk-vtk-installation-incomplete-vtk-and-paraview-conflict/13780/1 "2025-03-19T11:18:23Z")
Dear all,
I’m currently using debian distribution. I encounter an issue when running cmake with a preset using **cmake --preset release**. I proceed to the build configuration step. However, when configuring with a preset, I see the following error:
> CMake Error at scripts/cmake/BuildExternalProject.cmake:12 (find\_package):
> Could not find a package configuration file provided by “VTK” with any of
> the following names:
>
> VTKConfig.cmake
> vtk-config.cmake
>
> Add the installation prefix of “VTK” to CMAKE\_PREFIX\_PATH or set “VTK\_DIR”
> to a directory containing one of the above files. If “VTK” provides a
> separate development package or SDK, be sure it has been installed.
> Call Stack (most recent call first):
> scripts/cmake/BuildExternalProject.cmake:132 (BuildExternalProject\_find\_package)
> scripts/cmake/DependenciesExternalProject.cmake:491 (BuildExternalProject)
> CMakeLists.txt:85 (include)
I think cmake is trying to find VTK (Visualization Toolkit), but it cannot locate it on my system.
This issue leads to an error when I want to configure the configuration list after using **ccmake** :
> **Configure failed with the following output**
>
> By not providing “FindVTK.cmake” in CMAKE\_MODULE\_PATH this project has
> asked CMake to find a package configuration file provided by “VTK”, but
> CMake did not find one.
>
> Could not find a package configuration file provided by “VTK” (requested
> version 9.3.0) with any of the following names:
>
> VTKConfig.cmake
> vtk-config.cmake
>
> Add the installation prefix of “VTK” to CMAKE\_PREFIX\_PATH or set “VTK\_DIR”
> to a directory containing one of the above files. If “VTK” provides a
> separate development package or SDK, be sure it has been installed.
> Call Stack (most recent call first):
> CMakeLists.txt:85 (include)
I think the problem is with finding the VTK directory and also two specific files:
- VTKConfig.cmake
- vtk-config.cmake
When installing VTK I also encountered this warning:
> libvtk9.1 is already the newest version (9.1.0+really9.1.0+dfsg2-5).
> Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
> requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
> distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
> or been moved out of Incoming.
> The following information may help to resolve the situation:
>
> The following packages have unmet dependencies:
> python3-paraview : Conflicts: python3-vtk9 but 9.1.0+really9.1.0+dfsg2-5 is to be installed
> E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.
There seems to be a conflict between paraview and vtk.
Kind regards,
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2025, 12:14pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-cannot-locate-vtk-vtk-installation-incomplete-vtk-and-paraview-conflict/13780/2 "2025-03-19T12:14:27Z")
Asked and answered on VTK’s Discourse here:
> **[Cmake cannot locate VTK, VTK installation incomplete, VTK and paraview conflict](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/cmake-cannot-locate-vtk-vtk-installation-incomplete-vtk-and-paraview-conflict/15402/2)**
>
> There is. They both provide the vtk Python module. ParaView installs its VTK configuration in a subdirectory of its own. There should be a /usr/lib/\*/cmake/paraview-\*/vtk path you can pass as VTK\_DIR to use the VTK that comes with the ParaView...