`_overlapped` module cannot be imported without socket support

[az0]

Bug report

Bug description:

To reproduce, boot Windows 11 into minimal safe mode and run this

import asyncio

It causes this error

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\projects\asyncio_test_safe_mode.py", line 1, in <module>
    import asyncio
  File "c:\python\Lib\asyncio\__init__.py", line 42, in <module>
    from .windows_events import *
  File "c:\python\Lib\asyncio\windows_events.py", line 8, in <module>
    import _overlapped
OSError: [WinError 10050] A socket operation encountered a dead network

System information:

• Python 3.11.10 (main, Feb 17 2025, 07:07:12) [MSC v.1942 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
• Microsoft Windows 11 64-bit 23H2 22631.4890

The greater context is that it breaks PyGObject and BleachBit.

CPython versions tested on:

3.11

Operating systems tested on:

Windows

[picnixz]

The issue seems to be because of import _overlapped and not import asyncio. Can you check just importing _overlapped?

[vstinner]

Do you get the same error if you only import _socket?

_overlapped does basically nothing, except that it imports the _socket extension.

[vstinner]

I booted my Windows 11 VM in Safe Mode. Networking is disabled and I confirm that import _overlapped fails with "OSError: [WinError 10050] A socket operation encountered a dead network". import _socket just works.

I found the code responsible for this error: _overlapped opens a TCP socket to get function pointers. In Safe Mode, it's disallowed to open any socket and so the function fails.

The greater context is that it breaks PyGObject and bleachbit/bleachbit#1785 (comment).

Why do you want to use asyncio in Safe Mode when any network function is disabled?

[vstinner]

I suggest to close the issue as "won't fix" (not planned). You cannot use asyncio in Windows Safe Mode when all network functions are disabled. For example, bleachbit fails on socket.socketpair(): bleachbit/bleachbit#1785 (comment)

If you want to support Windows Safe Mode, you should avoid asyncio and socket modules in your code.

[az0]

The greater context is that it breaks PyGObject and bleachbit/bleachbit#1785 (comment).

Why do you want to use asyncio in Safe Mode when any network function is disabled?

While some people might have use cases for this scenario, I don't directly use asyncio in my project at all.

If you want to support Windows Safe Mode, you should avoid asyncio and socket modules in your code.

I require GTK, which requires PyGObject, which requires asyncio.

[vstinner]

I require GTK, which requires PyGObject, which requires asyncio.

The issue should be fixed in PyGObject or GTK in this case.

I close the issue. Thanks for your report anyway :-)