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Hafidh Fikri
Hafidh Fikri

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Create Python Virtual Environment with Various Version of Python on Windows

#python #programming

As someone who's not too familiar with using Python, I am confused about creating multiple virtual environments with different Python versions.

To solve this issue, I found a helpful library that can help me create multiple virtual environments with different Python versions. I use pyenv and pyenv-venv to tackle this problem, and many tutorials explain the installation process in Linux and MacOS, so I will share how to install it on Windows.

Step 1. Install pyenv and pyenv-venv

Firstly, I need to install both the library by following the instructions on the git page pyenv-win and pyenv-win-venv. For the first step, I need to install pyenv first by executing these commands:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pyenv-win/pyenv-win/master/pyenv-win/install-pyenv-win.ps1" -OutFile "./install-pyenv-win.ps1"; &"./install-pyenv-win.ps1
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To check that the installation was successful, I will check the version of pyenv.

pyenv --version
#Output: pyenv 3.1.1
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After that, I need to install pyenv-env.

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pyenv-win/pyenv-win-venv/main/bin/install-pyenv-win-venv.ps1" -OutFile "$HOME\install-pyenv-win-venv.ps1"; &"$HOME\install-pyenv-win-venv.ps1"
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And check again if the installation was successful.

pyenv-win-venv
#Output: pyenv-win-venv v0.6.5
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Step 2. Install Python

I will plan to install two different versions of Python, which are version 3.8.8 and 3.9.4. Before I do the installation, I need to check if the Python version that I will install are available to download with this command:

pyenv install -l
#Output:
#3.0.1
#3.1.0
#3.1.1
#3.8.8
#3.9.4
#.....
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So, if I have found the version of Python that I want to install, the next step is to install it with the following command:

#Command structure
#pyenv install <python_version>

pyenv install 3.8.8
pyenv install 3.9.4
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Now we need to make sure both Python versions have been installed and can be used to create the virtual environment by checking availability both on pyenv and pyenv-venv

pyenv versions
#Output:
#3.8.8
#3.9.4

pyenv-venv list python
#Output:
#3.8.8
#3.9.4
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Well, I can see both Python versions have been installed, so now I can create the virtual environment.

Step 3. Create Virtual Environment

To create a new virtual environment by defining a specific Python version, I will execute the command below:

#Command structure
#pyenv-venv install <python_version> <env_name>
#pyenv-venv activate <env_name>

pyenv-venv install 3.8.8 env_a
pyenv-venv activate env_a
python -V 
#Output : Python 3.8.8
pyenv-venv deactivate

pyenv-venv install 3.9.4 env_b
pyenv-venv activate env_b
python -V 
#Output : Python 3.9.4
pyenv-venv deactivate
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Finally, if you want to find out what virtual environment has been created, just follow this command you can see the available virtual environment on the computer

pyenv-venv list envs

#Output:
#Envs installed:
#env_a
#env_b
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This is one of the solutions I use. I have tried using the virtualenv plugin from pyenv, and it turned out to be constrained in the installation, so I looked for other alternatives. I hope this article can be an alternative solution for installing various versions of Python in various virtual environments on Windows.

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