Borislav Hadzhiev
Wed Apr 20 2022ยท4 min read
Photo by Raychan
The Python "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'virtualenv'" occurs when we
forget to install the virtualenv
module before importing it or install it in
an incorrect environment. To solve the error, install the module by running the
pip install virtualenv
command.
Open your terminal in your project's root directory and install the virtualenv
module.
# ๐๏ธ using Python 2 pip install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ for Python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version) pip3 install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you get permissions error sudo pip3 install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable python -m pip install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version) python3 -m pip install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ for Anaconda conda install -c anaconda virtualenv
After you install the virtualenv package, try importing it like:
import virtualenv print(dir(virtualenv))
Or use it to create a virtual environment:
virtualenv venv
The Python error "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'virtualenv'" occurs for multiple reasons:
virtualenv
package installed by running
pip install virtualenv
.If the error persists, get your Python version and make sure you are installing the package using the correct Python version.
python --version
For example, my Python version is 3.10.4
, so I would install the virtualenv
package with pip3.10 install virtualenv
.
pip3.10 install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you get permissions error use pip3 (NOT pip3.X) sudo pip3 install virtualenv
Notice that the version number corresponds to the version of pip
I'm using.
If the PATH for pip
is not set up on your machine, replace pip
with
python3 -m pip
:
# ๐๏ธ make sure to use your version of Python, e.g. 3.10 python3 -m pip install virtualenv
If the "No module named 'virtualenv'" error persists, try restarting your IDE and development server / script.
You can check if you have the virtualenv
package installed by running the
pip show virtualenv
command.
# ๐๏ธ check if you have virtualenv installed pip3 show virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you don't have pip setup in PATH python3 -m pip show virtualenv
The pip show virtualenv
command will either state that the package is not
installed or show a bunch of information about the package, including the
location where the package is installed.
If the package is not installed, make sure your IDE is using the correct version of Python.
virtualenv
package using the incorrect version or your IDE might be setup to use a different version.For example, In VSCode, you can press CTRL + Shift + P
or (โ
+ Shift
+ P
on Mac) to open the command palette.
Then type "Python select interpreter" in the field.
Then select the correct python version from the drop down menu.
Alternatively, you can use the built-in venv module to create a virtual environment in Python.
# ๐๏ธ use correct version of Python when creating VENV python3 -m venv venv # ๐๏ธ activate on Unix or MacOS source venv/bin/activate # ๐๏ธ activate on Windows (cmd.exe) venv\Scripts\activate.bat # ๐๏ธ activate on Windows (PowerShell) venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 # ๐๏ธ install modules in virtual environment pip install requests
Your virtual environment will use the version of Python that was used to create it.
If the error is not resolved, try to uninstall the virtualenv
package and then
install it.
# ๐๏ธ check if you have virtualenv installed pip3 show virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you don't have pip setup in PATH python3 -m pip show virtualenv # ๐๏ธ uninstall virtualenv pip3 uninstall virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you don't have pip setup in PATH python3 -m pip uninstall virtualenv # ๐๏ธ install virtualenv pip3 install virtualenv # ๐๏ธ if you don't have pip setup in PATH python3 -m pip install virtualenv
Try restarting your IDE and development server / script.
You can also try to upgrade the version of the virtualenv package.
pip3 install virtualenv --upgrade # ๐๏ธ if you don't have pip setup in PATH python3 -m pip install virtualenv --upgrade
This one is for using using virtual environments (VENV) on Windows
:
This one is for using using virtual environments (VENV) on MacOS
and Linux
: