django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: AUTH_USER_MODEL refers to model 'auth.User' that has not been installed

Question

After migrating my django and userena packages like below

Django 1.8 to Django 1.9.7

django-userena 1.4.1 to django-userena==2.0.1

After running the project , I am getting below this error

Unhandled exception in thread started by <function wrapper at 0xb689641c>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 226, in wrapper
fn(*args, **kwargs)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 116, in inner_run
self.check(display_num_errors=True)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 426, in check
include_deployment_checks=include_deployment_checks,
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/checks/registry.py", line 75, in run_checks
new_errors = check(app_configs=app_configs)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/checks/urls.py", line 13, in check_url_config
return check_resolver(resolver)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/checks/urls.py", line 23, in check_resolver
for pattern in resolver.url_patterns:
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/utils/functional.py", line 33, in __get__
res = instance.__dict__[self.name] = self.func(instance)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py", line 417, in url_patterns
patterns = getattr(self.urlconf_module, "urlpatterns", self.urlconf_module)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/utils/functional.py", line 33, in __get__
res = instance.__dict__[self.name] = self.func(instance)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py", line 410, in urlconf_module
return import_module(self.urlconf_name)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
__import__(name)
File "/home/Documents/swamy/sample_project/july/5/sample11/sampleapp/urls.py", line 28, in <module>
(r'^grappelli/', include('grappelli.urls')),
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/conf/urls/__init__.py", line 52, in include
urlconf_module = import_module(urlconf_module)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
__import__(name)
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/grappelli/urls.py", line 8, in <module>
from .views.switch import switch_user
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/grappelli/views/switch.py", line 18, in <module>
User = get_user_model()
File "/home/Documents/environments/venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/__init__.py", line 155, in get_user_model
"AUTH_USER_MODEL refers to model '%s' that has not been installed" % settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL

django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: AUTH_USER_MODEL refers to model 'auth.User' that has not been installed

Here are INSTALLED_APPS in my settings file,

'grappelli.dashboard',
'grappelli',
'filebrowser',     
'django.contrib.admindocs',
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',    
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',  
'django.contrib.redirects',
'django.contrib.sitemaps',
'haystack',  
'memcache_status',   
'stheme',    
'home',
'customers',
'orders',
#'legacy',
'products',
'bloglets',
'utils',
'catax',
'sqls',
'quotes',    
#'django_stylus',
#'djgrid',
#'obdjects',
'quickpages', 
'loginas',
#'pyjade',
'django_countries',  
'debug_toolbar',
'djide',
#'dbtemplates',  
#'aloha',  # out temporarily, migrate to alternate https://github.com/ntucker/django-aloha-edit - JJW
'coffeescript',
'django_wysiwyg',
#'django_bfm',
'userena',
'guardian', 
#'apps',  
#'filer',
'easy_thumbnails', 
'taggit',
#'taggit_templatetags',
# 'social_auth',    
'social.apps.django_app.default', 
#'socialregistration',
#'socialregistration.contrib.linkedin',
'email_extras',
#'csvimport', 
'csvimport.app.CSVImportConf',  
'django_extensions',
'webshell',
'easy_select2',  
#'plata',
#'plata.contact', 
#'plata.discount',
#'plata.payment',
#'plata.shop',
'lastmodule',

I guess there are some changes in python apps.But I can't find the reason... Does anyone help to fix this issue ?

Thanks In Advance !

Answer 1

if your application is not called auth you have to replace it:
AUTH_USER_MODEL='your_app_name.User'

Answer 2

This problems generally resides between 2 reasons.

1. When the dependencies order in installed apps are reversed.
2. When you haven't mentioned the dependency in the installed apps at all.

Here in this case grappelli seems to raise the issue telling auth.User not found. It means it is not able to find any package auth. If you are using the default user model remove that AUTH_USER_MODEL setting from the config or if you are using any custom user model in package 'auth' list it in installed apps.

Answer 3

A complete traceback would help to diagnose it better. Prima facie, it seems to me as a dependency issue caused due to migration. Check what Django docs have to say about this -

Due to limitations of Django’s dynamic dependency feature for swappable models, you must ensure that the model referenced by AUTH_USER_MODEL is created in the first migration of its app (usually called 0001_initial); otherwise, you will have dependency issues.

Here's the link - https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/topics/auth/customizing/