Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement X

# Table of Contents

1. Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement X
2. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement pandas
3. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement numpy
4. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement yaml
5. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement tkinter
6. Could not find version that satisfies requirement virtualenv
7. Could not find version that satisfies requirement django
8. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement tensorflow
9. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement PIL
10. Could not find version that satisfies requirement cv2 OpenCV

# Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement X

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement" occurs for multiple reasons:

• Running the pip install -r requirements.txt command without the -r option.
• Having an outdated version of pip or using pip for Python 2 instead of pip3.
• Misspelling the name of the module.
• Trying to install a built-in module (they are available without installation).
• Installing a package that doesn't support your version of Python.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement <package-name> (from versions: )
ERROR: No matching distribution found for <package-name>

# Specify the -r option when installing from requirements.txt

If you got the error when running the pip install requirements.txt command, make sure to specify the -r option.

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# 👇️ In a virtual environment or using Python 2
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 👇️ If you use Python 3 outside a virtual environment
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

The -r option recursively installs the packages in your requirements.txt file.

If that didn't solve the error, upgrade your version of pip.

# Upgrade your pip version

The error is often caused when you try to install a package using an older version of pip than is required.

To solve the error, upgrade your version of pip.

Here are the commands for upgrading pip on all operating systems.

Which command works depends on your operating system and your version of Python.

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# 👇️ If you have pip already installed
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If your pip is aliased as pip3 (Python 3)
pip3 install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If you have easy_install
easy_install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If you get a permissions error
sudo easy_install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If you get a permissions error when upgrading pip
pip install --upgrade pip --user

# 👇️ Upgrade pip scoped to the current user (if you get a permissions error)
python -m pip install --user --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade pip

# 👇️ Installing directly from get-pip.py (MacOS and Linux)
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python

# 👇️ If you get permissions issues
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | sudo python

# 👇️ Alternative for Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade python-pip

# 👇️ Alternative for Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora
sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install python-pip
sudo yum update python-pip

If you get the error "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip' in Python", check out my other article:

• Install pip in Python

If the commands from the code sample didn't work for you, click on the "Install pip in Python" link.

After you upgrade pip, upgrade setuptools as well.

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pip install --upgrade setuptools

pip3 install --upgrade setuptools

python3 -m pip install --upgrade setuptools

You can run the pip --version command to check your pip version.

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pip --version
pip3 --version

python --version

You can also upgrade your Python version by downloading the installer from the official python.org website and running it.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

# Install the package with "python -m pip install package_name"

Try running the pip install command as python -m pip install example.

This is necessary if you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable.

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# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install <package-name>

# 👇️ For Python 3 outside of a virtual environment
python3 -m pip install <package-name>

# 👇️ On Windows
py -m pip install <package-name>

Make sure to replace the <package-name> placeholder with the name of your actual package, e.g. python -m pip install requests.

You can also try to install the package with pip3 instead of pip.

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pip3 install <package-name>

If that didn't solve the error, try installing the package scoped to the user.

# Install the package with the --user option

The error is often caused due to not having the necessary permissions to install a package for all users on the machine.

To solve the error, install the package scoped to the specific user with the --user option.

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pip install <package-name> --user

pip3 install <package-name> --user

python3 -m pip install <package-name> --user

Make sure to replace the <package-name> placeholder with the actual name of the package, e.g. pip install requests --user.

The --user option installs the package in the user's home directory.

If you get a permissions error, try running the command with the --user flag or with sudo.

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sudo pip install <package-name>

sudo pip3 install <package-name>

sudo python3 -m pip install <package-name>

If that didn't solve the error, try upgrading the module.

# Upgrade the package with the --upgrade option

The error is also caused if you try to install an older version of the package that doesn't support your version of Python.

If that is the case, try upgrading the version of the package.

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pip install <package-name> --upgrade

pip3 install <package-name> --upgrade

python3 -m pip install <package-name> --upgrade

You can also try to install a specific version of the package.

Here is an example of how you would do this for requests.

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python3 -m pip install --pre --upgrade requests==XX.XX.XX

You also have to specify a version number after the equal signs.

You can view all of the versions of a package by entering the pip install example== command, where you replace example with the actual name of the package.

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pip install example==

pip3 install example==

Here is a screenshot of issuing the command in my terminal.

The output contains a tuple of all of the versions of the package from the oldest to the most recent.

You can also view all of the versions of a package by:

1. Googling "package-name pypi".
2. Clicking on the pypi page of the package.
3. Clicking on "Release history".

For example, if I wanted to install version 2.28.1 of the requests package, I would run the following command.

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python3 -m pip install --pre --upgrade requests==2.28.1

# Check if your Python version is supported by the package

Google for the name of the package and check if your Python version is supported by the package.

For example, if I google "requests pypi" and click on the pypi.org page, I can see the supported Python versions in the sidebar on the left, under Meta > Requires.

The screenshot shows that the package supports Python 3.7+.

To solve the error, you have to upgrade your Python version to a version that is in the specified range and then run the pip install <package_name> command.

You can upgrade your Python version by downloading the installer from the official python.org website and running it.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

You can download a specific Python version that is supported by the package if the package doesn't support the latest Python version.

Different versions are available in the "Looking for a specific release" table.

# Make sure you aren't trying to install a built-in module

The error is commonly caused when we try to pip install a built-in Python module.

Built-in modules are already available in the environment and should be directly imported without running pip install.

If you try to install the os module, you'd get the following error.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement os (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for os

You can directly import these modules and use them without installing them.

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# 👇️ Directly import a built-in module
import math

print(math.sqrt(25))  # 👉️ 5.0

Here is a list of all of the built-in modules.

You can search for the name of the module you are trying to install by pressing CTRL+f and typing the module's name.

Common built-in modules include: json, urllib, tkinter, smtplib, sqlite3, pickle, time, xmlrpclib and csv.

Try running your code with python your_file.py as the module you are trying to install might already be available in the environment.

# Make sure you aren't misspelling the package's name

The error is often caused when we:

• misspell a package's name
• assume that the package's name matches the import statement

Make sure you are spelling the module's name correctly by googling one of the following:

• <pakage_name> pypi
• <package_name>
• your import statement, e.g. import requests

# If installing from a requirements.txt file, make sure it contains the dependencies

If you are installing from a requirements.txt file with pip install -r requirements.txt, you have to make sure the file contains all of the packages and their dependencies.

This can be done by running pip install <package-name> and generating a new requirements.txt file that contains all of the dependencies.

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pip freeze > requirements.txt

pip3 freeze > requirements.txt

The error commonly occurs if your requirements.txt file contains only some of the dependencies of the packages.

You can also add the dependencies of the packages manually to your requirements.txt file based on the output from the error message.

# Some packages cannot be pip installed, they have to be installed manually

Some packages cannot be pip installed because they are not available on pypi.

If that is the case with your specific package, you can install it manually.

Here is an example of how you would install the requests package manually.

1. Open the repository of the package (e.g. on GitHub), click Code and then click Download ZIP.

2. If you downloaded zipped code, unzip the package (right-click and extract).
3. Open your terminal in the unzipped directory with the contents of the package.
4. Locate the setup.py file. It should be in the root directory.
5. If there are any installation instructions in the repository, follow them, otherwise, run the python setup.py install command.
6. If you get a permissions error, run the sudo python setup.py install command.
7. Alternatively, you can install the package scoped to the current user to avoid permission errors: python setup.py install --user.

You can often find download files for a specific module on the pypi page of the package by clicking on "Download files".

# Try running the pip install command with the --pre option

The --pre option makes it so pip includes pre-release and development versions of the package. By default pip only finds stable versions.

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pip install requests --pre
pip3 install requests --pre

python -m pip install requests --pre
python3 -m pip install requests --pre
py -m pip install requests --pre

Make sure to replace requests with the name of the actual package you are trying to install.

# Try installing the package in a virtual environment

Another thing that might help is to create a virtual environment if you don't already have one.

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# 👇️ Use the correct version of Python when creating VENV
python3 -m venv venv

# 👇️ Activate on Unix or MacOS
source venv/bin/activate

# 👇️ Activate on Windows (cmd.exe)
venv\Scripts\activate.bat

# 👇️ Activate on Windows (PowerShell)
venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# 👇️ Upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ Install <package-name> in your virtual environment
pip install <package-name>

If the python3 -m venv venv command doesn't work, try the following 2 commands:

• python -m venv venv
• py -m venv venv

Make sure to use the correct activation command depending on your operating system.

Your virtual environment will use the version of Python that was used to create it.

# Try running pip install in verbose mode

If none of the suggestions helped, try running the pip install command in verbose mode.

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pip install <package-name> -vvv

pip3 install <package-name> -vvv

python -m pip install <package-name> -vvv

The -v option stands for verbose mode and can be used up to 3 times.

When the pip install command is run in verbose mode, the command shows more output and how the error occurred.

# Conclusion

To solve the error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement", make sure:

1. To install from a requirements.txt file with the -r option, e.g. pip install -r requirements.txt.
2. You don't have an outdated version of pip.
3. You haven't misspelled the name of the module.
4. You aren't trying to install a built-in module.
5. You aren't using a Python version that isn't compatible with the package.
6. You aren't running into permissions errors when running pip install.

# Solving the error for specific packages

Here are some examples of solving the error for specific Python packages.

# Table of Contents

1. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement pandas
2. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement numpy
3. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement yaml
4. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement tkinter
5. Could not find version that satisfies requirement virtualenv
6. Could not find version that satisfies requirement django
7. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement tensorflow
8. Could not find version that satisfies the requirement PIL
9. Could not find version that satisfies requirement cv2 OpenCV

# Could not find version that satisfies the requirement pandas

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement pandas" occurs for multiple reasons:

• Installing pandas using a Python version that is not supported by the package.
• Having an outdated version of pip or using pip for Python 2 instead of pip3.
• Misspelling the name of the module.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement pandas (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for pandas

The pandas package supports Python versions 3.8+.

You can open the pypi page of pandas and view the supported Python versions in the sidebar on the left, under Meta > Requires.

You can check your Python version with the python --version command.

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python --version

python3 --version

If you have an older Python version than 3.8, download the latest version from the official python.org website and run the installer.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

Once you have a Python version in the supported range, try installing pandas.

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# 👇️ In a virtual environment or using Python 2
pip install pandas

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
pip3 install pandas

# 👇️ If you get a permissions error
sudo pip3 install pandas

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install pandas

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
python3 -m pip install pandas

# 👇️ For Anaconda
conda install -c anaconda pandas

After you install the pandas package, try importing it as follows.

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import pandas as pd

print(pd.__version__)

If the error is not resolved, try upgrading your version of pip.

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# 👇️ If you have pip already installed
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If your pip is aliased as pip3 (Python 3)
pip3 install --upgrade pip

# Could not find version that satisfies the requirement numpy

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement numpy" occurs for multiple reasons:

• Installing numpy using a Python version that is not supported by the package.
• Having an outdated version of pip or using pip for Python 2 instead of pip3.
• Misspelling the name of the module.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement numpy (from versions: )
ERROR: No matching distribution found for numpy

The numpy package supports Python versions 3.8+.

You can open the pypi page of numpy and view the supported Python versions in the sidebar on the left, under Meta > Requires.

You can check your Python version with the python --version command.

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python --version

python3 --version

If you have an older Python version than 3.8, download the latest version from the official python.org website and run the installer.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

Once you have a Python version in the supported range, try installing numpy.

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# 👇️ In a virtual environment or using Python 2
pip install numpy

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
pip3 install numpy

# 👇️ If you get a permissions error
sudo pip3 install numpy

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install numpy

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
python3 -m pip install numpy

# 👇️ For Anaconda
conda install -c anaconda numpy

After you install the numpy package, try importing it as follows.

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import numpy as np

a = np.arange(6)

a2 = a[np.newaxis, :]

print(a2.shape)

If the error is not resolved, try upgrading your version of pip.

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# 👇️ If you have pip already installed
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If your pip is aliased as pip3 (Python 3)
pip3 install --upgrade pip

# Could not find version that satisfies the requirement yaml

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement yaml" occurs for multiple reasons:

• Pip installing the wrong package. The name of the package is pyyaml.
• Installing pyyaml using a Python version that is not supported by the package.
• Having an outdated version of pip or using pip for Python 2 instead of pip3.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement yaml (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for yaml

Open your terminal in your project's root directory and install the pyyaml module.

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# 👇️ In a virtual environment or using Python 2
pip install pyyaml

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
pip3 install pyyaml

# 👇️ For Anaconda
conda install -c conda-forge pyyaml

After you install the pyyaml package, try importing it as follows.

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import yaml

print(yaml.load("""
 - bobby
 - hadz
 - .
 - com
 """, Loader=yaml.Loader)
      )

If you still aren't able to install the pyyaml package, try upgrading pip.

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# 👇️ If you have pip already installed
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If your pip is aliased as pip3 (Python 3)
pip3 install --upgrade pip

Another common cause of the error is having a Python version that is not supported by pyyaml.

The pyyaml package supports Python versions 3.6+.

You can open the pypi page of pyyaml and view the supported Python versions in the sidebar on the left, under Meta > Requires.

You can check your Python version with the python --version command.

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python --version

python3 --version

If you have an older Python version than 3.6, download the latest version from the official python.org website and run the installer.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

If that didn't help, try installing the package in a virtual environment scoped to Python 3.

# Could not find version that satisfies the requirement tkinter

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement tkinter" occurs when we try to install tkinter using pip.

To solve the error, use an operating system-specific command to install tkinter or use Python 3 where tkinter is available as a built-in module.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement tkinter (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for tkinter

Open your terminal and run the following command to install tkinter.

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# 👇️ === UBUNTU / DEBIAN ===
sudo apt-get install python3-tk

# 🚨 Make sure to specify the correct Python version.
# For example, my Python version is 3.10, so I would install as
sudo apt-get install python3.10-tk

# 👇️ === MacOS ===
brew install python-tk@3.10

# 🚨 Make sure to specify the correct Python version.
# For example, if you run Python v3.9 run adjust command to
brew install python-tk@3.9

# 👇️ === Fedora ===
sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

# 👇️ === CentOS ===
sudo yum install python3-tkinter

If you already installed Python:

1. Download the installer.
2. Run the installer and click Modify.
3. Then check the tcl/tk and IDLE checkbox to install tkinter for your Python version.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• tcl/tk and IDLE (installs tkinter and the IDLE development environment)
• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

Tkinter comes as a built-in module in Python 3 and is made available without requiring installation.

Now you should be able to import and use the tkinter module.

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import tkinter as tk

from tkinter import ttk

root = tk.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()

When you run your code with python file_name.py, you might be running the script with Python 2.

Use the python --version command if you need to check your Python version.

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python --version

You can try to run the script with python3 file_name.py to have the command scoped to Python 3.

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python3 example_file.py

# Could not find version that satisfies requirement virtualenv

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement virtualenv" occurs for multiple reasons:

• Installing virtualenv using a Python version that is not supported by the package.
• Having an outdated version of pip or using pip for Python 2 instead of pip3.
• Misspelling the name of the module.

Make sure your Python version is one of the supported by virtualenv versions.

The virtualenv package supports Python versions 3.6+.

You can open the pypi page of virtualenv and view the supported Python versions in the sidebar on the left, under Meta > Requires.

You can check your Python version with the python --version command.

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python --version

python3 --version

If you have an older Python version than 3.6, download the latest version from the official python.org website and run the installer.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

Update your version of pip before installing virtualenv.

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# 👇️ If you have pip already installed
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If your pip is aliased as pip3 (Python 3)
pip3 install --upgrade pip

Run the following command to install virtualenv.

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pip install virtualenv

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
pip3 install virtualenv

# 👇️ If you get a permissions error
sudo pip3 install virtualenv

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install virtualenv

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
python3 -m pip install virtualenv

# 👇️ For Anaconda
conda install -c anaconda virtualenv

# Could not find version that satisfies requirement django

The error "Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement django" occurs for multiple reasons:

• Installing Django using a Python version that is not supported by the package.
• Having an outdated version of pip or using pip for Python 2 instead of pip3.
• Misspelling the name of the module.

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ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement django (from versions: )
ERROR: No matching distribution found for django

If that didn't help, make sure your Python version is one of the supported by Django versions.

The Django package supports Python versions 3.8+.

You can open the pypi page of Django and view the supported Python versions in the sidebar on the left, under Meta > Requires.

You can check your Python version with the python --version command.

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python --version

python3 --version

If you have an older Python version than 3.8, download the latest version from the official python.org website and run the installer.

Make sure to tick the following options if you get prompted:

• Install launcher for all users (recommended)
• Add Python to PATH (this adds Python to your PATH environment variable)

Update your version of pip before installing virtualenv.

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# 👇️ If you have pip already installed
pip install --upgrade pip

# 👇️ If your pip is aliased as pip3 (Python 3)
pip3 install --upgrade pip

Run the following command to install Django.

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# 👇️ In a virtual environment or using Python 2
pip install Django

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
pip3 install Django

# 👇️ If you get a permissions error
sudo pip3 install Django

# 👇️ If you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install Django

# 👇️ For python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
python3 -m pip install Django

# 👇️ For Anaconda
conda install -c anaconda django

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• Could not find version that satisfies the requirement tensorflow
• Could not find version that satisfies the requirement PIL
• Could not find version that satisfies requirement cv2 OpenCV
• VS Code: Change Python version & select correct Interpreter
• Pip list all available versions of a Python package
• Pip install a specific version of a Python package
• Install a specific package version using conda (anaconda)