DEV Community: Tarun Kumar

🚀 The Professional Way to Install & Run Jupyter in 2025

Tarun Kumar — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 15:14:53 +0000

If you’re starting your journey in Python, Data Science, or Machine Learning, chances are you’ve already heard about Jupyter.

But here’s the harsh reality most beginners face:

Most tutorials skip best practices
Beginners often get lost between Jupyter Notebook vs JupyterLab
Wrong installs → broken projects later

Example: You finally set up Jupyter, write some code, share it with a teammate… and boom 🚨 it breaks on their system. Why ?

This guide will walk you through the right way to install, organize, and run Jupyter — so your projects stay clean, scalable, and production-ready.

🧐 What Exactly is Jupyter?

Think of Jupyter Notebook as a coding workspace — like VS Code, Sublime, or Vim — but designed for Python + Data Science.

It lets you:

Write and run Python code in small chunks (cells)
Add markdown notes alongside your code
Visualize data instantly

👉 And now, there’s JupyterLab: a polished upgrade with a nicer interface and extra features.

But don’t worry — 90% of your work will look the same in both.

🔥 The Problem With Most Jupyter Users

Here’s where things usually go wrong:

Installing Jupyter globally → breaks dependencies across projects
Confused: Notebook or Lab?
Dumping all code into one messy notebook
Following random tutorials without learning best practices

👉 That’s why we’ll do it the pro way: clean, isolated, and VS Code-friendly.

🛠 Step 1: Create a Virtual Environment

Never install Jupyter globally. Instead, create a virtual environment inside your project folder.

# create a folder for your project
mkdir J_Books && cd J_Books  

# create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

Activate it:

# Mac/Linux:
source venv/bin/activate

# Windows:
venv\Scripts\activate

Once activated, your terminal will show (venv) — meaning everything you install stays inside this project only.

📦 Step 2: Install Jupyter

With your virtual environment active:

pip install jupyterlab

(If you prefer the classic interface, install just jupyter instead.)

Launch it with:

jupyter lab

This will open Jupyter in your browser, where you can create notebooks, terminals, or text files.

⚠️ Warning:
If jupyter lab doesn’t open automatically in your browser, just go to 👉 http://localhost:8888

💻 Step 3: Use Jupyter in VS Code

If you’re already comfortable with VS Code, you can run notebooks there too:

Open VS Code
Drag your project folder (J_Books) into it
Install the Jupyter extension from the VS Code marketplace

Now you can create and run .ipynb files directly inside VS Code, with all the editor perks — themes, shortcuts, autocomplete, and version control.

✅ Summary

Let’s recap the pro Jupyter setup:

Always use a virtual environment (venv or Conda)
Install Jupyter (jupyterlab for modern UI, jupyter for classic)
Run it either in the browser or inside VS Code

This way:

Your projects stay organized
Dependencies don’t conflict
Moving to production is much smoother

👋 Final Thoughts

Jupyter is one of the most powerful tools in Data Science — but only if you set it up the right way.

Start clean. Work in isolated environments. Use the editor that feels best for you.
Your future self (and your projects) will thank you. 🚀

💬 Are you using Jupyter Notebook or JupyterLab right now? Drop your workflow in the comments — let’s learn from each other!

Beginner's Guide: How to Set Up a Virtual Machine with Ubuntu in VirtualBox

Tarun Kumar — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 06:48:08 +0000

Virtualization is the creation of virtual (rather than physical) versions of computing environments—like operating systems, storage, or servers.

With virtualization tools like VirtualBox, you can:

Run multiple OSes on one computer
Test applications safely
Learn Linux without dual-booting

Step 0: Is Virtualization Enabled?

Before setting up anything, make sure virtualization is enabled on your system:

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
Go to the Performance tab
Click on CPU
Look for Virtualization in the bottom-right corner

👉 If it says Enabled, you're good to go.

❌ If it says Disabled, go into your BIOS/UEFI settings and enable virtualization.

Step 1: Download and Install VirtualBox

Download VirtualBox from its official site: 🔗 Download VirtualBox

Choose the version that matches your OS (Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.) and install it just like any regular software.

Step 2: Download Ubuntu ISO

Download Ubuntu Desktop ISO (we're using 22.04.5 in this tutorial)

🔗 Ubuntu 22.04.5 Download

when you go to that page, you just need to scroll down little bit, and you will see the Ubuntu model:

File: ubuntu-22.04.5-desktop-amd64.iso
Release Date: 2024-09-11
Size: 4.4 GB

Once you locate the file, click on the download link to start the process. Depending on your internet connection speed, the download may take some time to complete, so be patient as it prepares your system for installation.

Save it somewhere easy to find like your Downloads folder.

Step 3: Create a New Virtual Machine

Open VirtualBox

In my case, VirtualBox shows two virtual machines that I had previously created. You can ignore them.

Click New this will open the interface to create a virtual machine, as shown in the image above.
Set a name (e.g., tarun_ubuntu_vm) that you want give your Virtual Machine.
Choose a folder (e.g., D:\VMs) to store the virtual machine, I recommands you to create a folder in the D-drive and provide the path to the folder, it separates all data of the Virtual Machine from your C drive.
Select:
- Type: Linux
- Version: Ubuntu (64-bit)
- Press Next
Set Memory size: At least 4096 MB (4 GB)
Create a Virtual Hard Disk:
- Type: VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)
- Storage: Dynamically allocated
- Size: 20 GB

Click Create when done.

Step 4: Load Ubuntu ISO and Begin Installation

Now connect the Ubuntu ISO to your VM:

Select your VM and click Settings > Storage
Under "Controller: IDE", click Empty
Click the CD icon > Choose a disk file

Select the Ubuntu ISO you downloaded earlier and click OK
Then click Start to launch the VM!

Follow the on-screen installation steps within the VM to complete the Ubuntu setup.

Once the installation is finished and Ubuntu boots up successfully, you should see a desktop environment similar to the one below:

At this point, your VirtualBox and Ubuntu environment are fully set up and ready for use.

Step 5: Install Essential Packages (Optional)

Once Ubuntu is installed and booted, open the terminal and run:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install build-essential curl git -y

Let’s Connect

If you found this guide helpful:

Leave a ❤️ to support my first Dev.to post!
Drop a comment if you ran into any issues
Follow me for more beginner-friendly Linux and IoT tutorials coming soon

Thanks for reading, and happy virtualizing! 🐧🚀