# Not able to download database for MetaPhlAn

**URL:** <https://forum.biobakery.org/t/not-able-to-download-database-for-metaphlan/4671>\
**Category:** MetaPhlAn\
**Created:** [January 18, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://forum.biobakery.org/t/not-able-to-download-database-for-metaphlan/4671 "2023-01-18T12:12:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![self\_shubham](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.biobakery.org/self_shubham/32/2097_2.png) [@self\_shubham](https://forum.biobakery.org/u/self_shubham)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://forum.biobakery.org/t/not-able-to-download-database-for-metaphlan/4671/1 "2023-01-18T12:12:58Z")

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MetaPhlAn version 3.0

Command-

metaphlan --install

Downloading [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7qze7m7g9fe2xjg/AAA4XDP85WHon\_eHvztxkamTa/file\_list.txt?dl=1](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7qze7m7g9fe2xjg/AAA4XDP85WHon_eHvztxkamTa/file_list.txt?dl=1)

Error-

Warning: Unable to download [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7qze7m7g9fe2xjg/AAA4XDP85WHon\_eHvztxkamTa/file\_list.txt?dl=1](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7qze7m7g9fe2xjg/AAA4XDP85WHon_eHvztxkamTa/file_list.txt?dl=1)  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/home/gmpl/miniconda3/envs/bsc\_metagenome/bin/metaphlan”, line 10, in   
sys.exit(main())  
File “/home/gmpl/miniconda3/envs/bsc\_metagenome/lib/python3.6/site-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan.py”, line 1187, in main  
pars[‘index’] = check\_and\_install\_database(pars[‘index’], pars[‘bowtie2db’], pars[‘bowtie2\_build’], pars[‘nproc’], pars[‘force\_download’])  
File “/home/gmpl/miniconda3/envs/bsc\_metagenome/lib/python3.6/site-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan.py”, line 589, in check\_and\_install\_database  
index = resolve\_latest\_database(bowtie2\_db, ls\_f[‘mpa\_latest’], force\_redownload\_latest)  
UnboundLocalError: local variable ‘ls\_f’ referenced before assignment

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aitor.blancomiguez](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.biobakery.org/aitor.blancomiguez/32/86_2.png) [@aitor.blancomiguez](https://forum.biobakery.org/u/aitor.blancomiguez)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://forum.biobakery.org/t/not-able-to-download-database-for-metaphlan/4671/2 "2023-01-31T08:42:14Z")

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Hi @self_shubham  
The dropbox download has been deprecated around one year ago, I suggest you to upgrade the metaphlan 3 version to the latest available to fix the problem
