diff --git a/start.py b/start.py
index 5799132bfe..47faaee974 100644
--- a/start.py
+++ b/start.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ import platform
 import traceback
 import subprocess
 import site
-import distutils
+import distutils.spawn
 from pathlib import Path
 
 # OPENPYPE_ROOT is variable pointing to build (or code) directory