Setting up a virtual environment for your Django Project

One of the tasks that could be confusing for a beginner starting out with Python on the Windows Operating System (OS) is creating a virtual environment for projects.

In this article, we will go through how to create a virtual environment for a Django project in Windows 10

virtualenv : is a Python tool used for creating isolated environments. This separates each project from another so that the tools and actions active in one project environment do not have an effect in another environment except they are installed or activated in the other environment.

Prerequisites:

1. Have a computer that has Windows OS
2. Have Python distribution installed on your computer already

Table of Content

1. Install Virtualenv
2. Locate where Python is installed on your PC
3. Create a virtual Python Environment for your Project
4. Activating the Virtual Environment
5. Create a Django Project

Install Virtualenv

To install virtualenv, use the pip package manager that comes pre-installed with Python. Use the following command on the command prompt. You can access the command prompt by simply search for cmd on your Start menu. Then, click to open.

pip install virtualenv

After successful installation, virtualenv should now be in the Scripts folder inside the Python installation folder on your local disk.

Great! Now, let’s move to the new line of action.

Locate where Python is installed on your PC

While installing a Python software distribution on your PC, if you selected the option to ADD PYTHON TO PATH, then you would find its location in the PATH variable.

Otherwise, you will have to look into your local disk to check for its path. The location would be in a path that looks like the following:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\python.exe

Therefore, you need to find python.exe in the location that looks like the above and take a note of it. Now, we shall create a virtual environment for our project

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Create a virtual Python Environment for your Project

To create a virtual environment for you, change directory to the place where you want your Django project to be. Use the cd command on your command prompt to move to the said directory as follows:

cd first_project

Now, you should use the virtualenv command appended with --python to create a new Python environment for your project. You also need to have the Python installation path that you noted from Step 2 above in the same line of command. Then finish off with a name for your new virtual environment, we can call it env for example. See the following:

virtualenv --python C:\Path\To\Python\python.exe env

Activate the Virtual Environment

At this point, you need to activate the virtual environment for you to be able to work in it. Activate it by:

.\venv\Scripts\activate

So, your command line will change to show the activate environment name like the following:

(env)  C:\Users\%username%\Path\To\Project\Directory> 

Nice! Now, you can create your Django project and do any other thing that you want active inside the virtual environment.

However, you can deactivate when you are done working or want to leave the virtual environment. Do it this way:

deactivate

Now, let’s go forward into creating a Django project in the new virtual environment.

Create a Django Project

Firstly, install Django here. The installed Django package will only be active in this virtual environment and no other place on your PC.

pip install Django

You can check installed packages by creating a requirements.txt file. This file contains a list of all the installed packages and their respective versions.

pip freeze > requirements.txt

Now, you can create a Django project. Let’s call our project myproject for example:

django-admin startproject myproject

That’s it. You have a Django project in a virtual environment already. Congratulations!