Virtualenv Command Not Found

python macos virtualenv

426,350

Solution 1

If you installed it with

pip install virtualenv

You need to run

sudo /usr/bin/easy_install virtualenv

which puts it in /usr/local/bin/.

The above directory by default should be in your PATH; otherwise, edit your .zshrc (or .bashrc) accordingly.

Solution 2

I faced the same issue and this is how I solved it:

The issue occurred to me because I installed virtualenv via pip as a regular user (not root). pip installed the packages into the directory ~/.local/lib/pythonX.X/site-packages
When I ran pip as root or with admin privileges (sudo), it installed packages in /usr/lib/pythonX.X/dist-packages. This path might be different for you.
virtualenv command gets recognized only in the second scenario
So, to solve the issue, do pip uninstall virtualenv and then reinstall it with sudo pip install virtualenv (or install as root)

Solution 3

The simplest answer. Just:

pip uninstall virtualenv

and then:

pip install virtualenv

Or you maybe installed virtualenv with sudo, in that case:

pip install --user virtualenv

Solution 4

On Ubuntu 18.04 LTS I also faced same error. Following command worked:

sudo apt-get install python-virtualenv

Solution 5

python3 -m virtualenv virtualenv_name

python -m virtualenv virtualenv_name

View more solutions

426,350

Arial

Always inspired by products that solve meaningful problems.

Updated on July 16, 2022

Comments

Arial almost 2 years
I couldn't get virtualenv to work despite various attempts. I installed virtualenv on MAC OS X using:
```
pip install virtualenv
```
and have also added the PATH into my .bash_profile. Every time I try to run the virtualenv command, it returns:
```
-bash: virtualenv: command not found
```
Every time I run pip install virtualenv, it returns:
```
Requirement already satisfied (use --upgrade to upgrade): virtualenv in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages
```
I understand that in mac, the virtualenv should be correctly installed in
```
/usr/local/bin
```
The virtualenv is indeed installed in /usr/local/bin, but whenever I try to run the virtualenv command, the command is not found. I've also tried to run the virtualenv command in the directory /usr/local/bin, and it gives me the same result:
```
-bash: virtualenv: command not found
```
These are the PATHs I added to my .bash_profile
```
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/python
export PATH=$PATH:/Library/Framework/Python.framework/Version/2.7/lib/site-packages
```
Any workarounds for this? Why is this the case?
- Justin Fay almost 9 years
  
  Try adding a symlink to the virtualenv executable in /usr/local/bin
- Arial almost 9 years
  
  Where should I create the symlink? It's still not working despite I tried to add a symlink at the directory where I want to use virtualenv @justinfay
- Justin Fay almost 9 years
  
  from looking at the paths above it could be something like, replace the last path in the command with the path to the actual virtualenv executable: $ ln -s /usr/bin/virtualenv /Library/Framework/Python.framework/Version/2.7/lib/site-pac‌kages/virtualenv/vir‌tualenv.py
- Aliza over 8 years
  
  what worked for me was to add a symlink ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python‌2.7/site-packages/vi‌rtualenv.py /usr/local/bin/virtualenv
- c24b over 8 years
  
  Doesn't work in a lubuntu
- JulienD about 8 years
  
  What if you try pip install virtualenv --user ? Also check the permissions of /usr/local/bin/ (you wrote that it was indeed installed in /usr/local/bin/, so if it is not found it looks more like a permissions issue).
- Ozkan Serttas about 4 years
  
  I tried adding Lazy Loading method to initialize virtualenv. Please see this part in the documentation
smudo78 almost 8 years

I followed your solution and got the message "...If executing pip with sudo, you may want sudo's -H flag". Finally sudo -H pip install virtualenv did the job for me (on OS X), thank you
user5359531 almost 8 years

what if root is not available on your machine?
Mariano Kamp over 7 years

Did you see that he was asking for Mac OSX?
Admin over 7 years

Solved the problem. I guess this one can go into the global dir instead of --user.
emrahgunduz over 6 years

on AWS EC2 instance with Amazon Linux, if you are trying Let's Encrypt's certbot, give this solution a try. This was the only suggestion that solved my virtualenv problem.
Dmitri DB over 6 years

Which leaves the question: Why the devil is my python3-virtualenv package broken?
Kirby over 6 years

setting up the sym link was all i needed to do. thank you.
race_carr about 6 years

Wow! This is what did the trick for me. I am using pyenv by the way
TCSGrad almost 6 years

This is the way to go for Mac OS X using brew.
HellaDev about 5 years

Been fighting this for weeks and it has been hindering my limited time to work on a python project and this was the only solution to work for me on mac. Thank you!
CarmenA almost 5 years

I upgraded to python 3.7. I kept trying to install virtualenv, it will always return "Error: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement virtualenv (from versions: none)". I read somewhere that from a certain python 3.x version it comes with virtualenv installed, but trying to create a virtual environment simple, didn't work, it would return error that it doesn't know the virtualenv command. But it worked with the following command from your answer, "virtualenv venv --python=python3.7". Nothing else done prior. In case it helps anyone else. MacOS environment.
Leonard over 4 years

brew install python-virtualenv does not exist
Matteo over 4 years

The question is for mac OS, there is no apt
David over 4 years

This worked perfectly. It should be the accepted answer and +1 for the detailed explanation
Ced over 4 years

the output is sudo: /usr/bin/easy_install: command not found
Thomas Kimber over 4 years

Thankyou for this - but I wish I knew what witchcraft is at work here - what does "easy_install" do that regular pip doesn't do? i.e. Why does this work?
Nischaya Sharma over 4 years

Worked like a charm on my 18.04, Thanks
manuele about 4 years

It fixes for me exacly the same problem... why it's not checked as the solution?
greybeard about 4 years

Voted down to promote apt as a successor to apt-get.
yoon almost 4 years

This issue also happens when pip itself is installed in ~/.local/SOME_PATH. I cp ed everything in site-packages dir into /usr/lib/pythonx.x/site-packages, and rm -rfed the original directory.
ofer.sheffer almost 4 years

worked for me without the 3. python -m virtualenv <name>
Peter Wauyo over 3 years

This worked for me on MacOs python -m venv venv_name
Jose Andres Montes Espinoza over 3 years

Also worked for Ubuntu. I was having issues setting it up for digital ocean. This should be the solution.
landesko about 3 years

Step 4 was what I was looking for! I couldn't figure out how to get files out of ~/.local
DariusL about 3 years

Always a good method of solving path issues with python.
Hansang almost 3 years

switching to sudo su worked for me, even though i wanted to use python3 as the venv folder to be created. It seems that it's a permissions issue when trying to install locally and the elevated sudo not finding the correct path unless explicitly logged in as root
ultrasounder over 2 years

Followed the above instructions and worked for me. @vettipayyan is not all that Vetti after all
Nathan McKaskle over 2 years

This only works most likely if python 3.6+ is the default when using the python command.
Nathan McKaskle over 2 years

It keeps trying to use 2.7.
Dushan Wijesinghe over 2 years

Works for macOS Big Sur 11.6
Nube Colectiva almost 2 years

worked for me: "python -m virtualenv myvirtualenv" in windwos 10 - 64 bytes.