virtualenv won't activate on windows

Question

Essentially I cannot seem to activate my virtualenv environment which I create.

I\'m doing this inside of windows powershell through using

scripts\\a         


        

Answer 1

On Windows, open Windows PowerShell as Administrator

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force

create virtual environment

pip install virtualenv
virtualenv foo
cd .\foo
.\Scripts\activate

Answer 2

in windows you should activate the virtual environment by following command in cmd

E:\your_environment\Scripts>activate.bat

if the environment is activated then it show your environment name enclosed with bracket like this

(your_environment) E:\your_environment\Scripts>

Also we can ensure by checking with where.exe it will list our active python environment with order of hierarchy

 (your_environment) E:\your_environment\Scripts>where.exe python

 E:\your_environment\Scripts\python.exe

 C:\Python27\python.exe

if you need to deactivate then do

(your_environment) E:\your_environment\Scripts>deactivate.bat

Answer 3

Another quick solution I have found here (it is applicable for Windows Powershell only) is like this:

First run

Scripts\cmd

Then run

Scripts\activate.bat

At this position, your Virtualenv is activated. Now if you deactivate it and want to activate it again later in the same session of powershell, you just need to run-

Scripts\activate

There is no need to cmd or activate.bat command later.

Answer 4

For me on Windows 10 x64 - Open cmd as an Administrator - powershell - type Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force

Voila, reOpen VSCode and start pythoninnngg

Answer 5

Follow these steps to the latter. step 1. Use Windows PowerShell as ADMINISTRATOR. (VERY IMPORTANT) and cd into the project folder. Run

virtual env

step 2. Check in the scripts folder if you have your activate.bat file

\env\Scripts\activate.bat #It has to be there.

step 3. If it is not here make sure you have an internet connection and run this again

virtual env 

step 4. If the activate.bat file is there in the script folder proceed. step 5. run this on your shell

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force

step 6. To activate virtualenv on Windows, activate script is in the Scripts folder :

env\Scripts\activate.bat

step 7 check for the (env) at the start of each line this shows you are on the virtual environment

step 8. To reactivate when yo come back to the project the second time run:

.\\env\Scripts\activate

Answer 6

Moving comment to answers section :)

According to Microsoft Tech Support it might be a problem with Execution Policy Settings. To fix it, You should try executing Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process (as mentioned in the comment section by @wtsiamruk) in Your Power Shell. This would allow running virtualenv in the current Power Shell session.

Unsafe way, but recommended by MS Tech Support would be Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force (which do unleash powers to screw Your system up).

EDIT: edited and added the SAFER way from the comment section.