Ubuntu – Python 3.12 ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'

I’m a fairly new Linux user running Ubuntu (Mint), and I’ve been trying to learn to build a GUI app using tkinter.

My understanding is this comes built-in with Python, and theoretically shouldn’t need a separate installation. Unfortunately for me this does not appear to be the case. All installation paths are default, so to my knowledge everything related to Python3.12 is under my /usr directory to avoid problems with the Python install that comes with Linux.

I followed just about every guide I could find on stackoverflow to try to fix this situation, but I’m at a loss. I’ve also tried reinstalling Python3.12 with APT, and also followed this guide: https://linuxcapable.com/install-python-3-12-on-ubuntu-linux/ and ran:

sudo apt install python3.12-full

In the hopes that it would pick up anything the default install didn’t get.

My Python version appears correct:

<user>@<user>:~$ python3 --version
Python 3.12.4

<user>@<user>:~$ which python3
/usr/local/bin/python3

I did install tk via APT, and reattempting produces:

<user>@<user>:~$ sudo apt install tk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
tk is already the newest version (8.6.11+1build2).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Using a Python shell to check for Tk does not work:

<user>@<user>:~$ python3.12
Python 3.12.4 (main, Jul 18 2024, 11:12:47) [GCC 11.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tkinter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/tkinter/__init__.py", line 38, in <module>
    import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'

Nor does attempting to run the basic tutorial script from Tk inside Pycharm. I have a virtual environment setup via pipenv with the following pipfile:

[[source]]
url = "https://pypi.org/simple"
verify_ssl = true
name = "pypi"

[packages]
tk = "*"

[dev-packages]

[requires]
python_version = "3.12"
python_full_version = "3.12.4"

Python script:

from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
root = Tk()
frm = ttk.Frame(root, padding=10)
frm.grid()
ttk.Label(frm, text="Hello World!").grid(column=0, row=0)
ttk.Button(frm, text="Quit", command=root.destroy).grid(column=1, row=0)
root.mainloop()

Produces:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/<user>/PycharmProjects/gui_app/main.py", line 1, in <module>
    from tkinter import *
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/tkinter/__init__.py", line 38, in <module>
    import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'

I’m not even sure where to look next, as every article I’ve come across suggests installing Tk via APT, which as demonstrated has already been done. The error message suggests a configuration issue, but I’m not skilled enough to understand the documentation for this topic.

Any help is appreciated.