Python Virtual Environment Setup (Windows)

This guide explains how to install Python on Windows, verify the installation, create a project, set up a virtual environment, and understand what a virtual environment does and why it is useful.

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What Is Python?

Python is a popular programming language used for web development, automation, data analysis, machine learning, and more.

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What Is a Virtual Environment?

A virtual environment (venv) is an isolated Python environment created for a specific project.

It contains:

• Its own Python interpreter
• Its own installed packages (libraries)

Why Virtual Environments Are Useful

Virtual environments help you:

• Avoid dependency conflicts between projects
• Use different versions of the same package
• Keep your system Python installation clean
• Reproduce the same setup on another machine

Without virtual environments, all projects share the same packages, which can lead to version conflicts.

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Step 1: Install Python on Windows

1. Download Python from:
   https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/ SELECT -> Download Windows installer (64-bit)
2. Run the installer.
3. Check the box ✅ Add Python to PATH
4. Click Install Now and complete the installation.

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Step 2: Verify Python Installation

Open Command Prompt and run:

python --version

This should give you something like this: Python 3.x.x

Step 3: Verify pip Installation

• pip is Python’s package manager. It is installed automatically with Python.

pip --version

It should look something like this:

• pip x.x.x from C:\Python\Lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.x)

Step 4: Create a Project Directory

Navigate to where you want your project and create a folder:

cd my_project

In your command line you should be in your project like this: C:\path\to\my_project>

Step 5: Create a Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv

A folder called venv should be added to the project folder

Step 6: Activate the Virtual Environment

venv\Scripts\activate

In your command line the path should look like this: (venv) C:\path\to\my_project>

Step 7: Install the needed libraries

You can do this by installing them seperately with commands like:

pip install pandas

Or you can do this by installing all of them from a requirements.txt. You can try this out by downloading the requirements.txt example from this github.

pip install -r requirements.txt

Step 8: Add all used libraries in a project to a requirements.txt

You can easily add all installed libraries to a requirements.txt with the following command:

pip freeze > requirements.txt

Step 9: Deactivating you virtual enviroment

If you want to exit the virtual enviroment you can easliy do this by typing:

deactivate in the command line