ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'virtualenv.seed.embed.via_app_data' when I created new env by virtualenv

Python Problem Overview

I had install virtualenv, created a venv by virtualenv since last month but now I can't create other env. In Ubuntu 20.04 terminal, I had tried:

$virtualenv my_env

But its result is

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'virtualenv.seed.embed.via_app_data'

After that, I checked its version:

$virtualenv --version

and get:

virtualenv 20.0.17 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/virtualenv/__init__.py

I also checked it by $pip3 list and virtualenv still exists. It seem that problem came after I had install Anaconda.

Python Solutions

Solution 1 - Python

@yushulx I also ran into the same issue. I installed both via pip3 and via sudo apt install python3-virtualenv and it gave me an error but after I ran pip3 uninstall virtualenv I could create a virtualenv without issue

Solution 2 - Python

Try to create the virtual environment using directly venv module

python3 -m venv my_env

Solution 3 - Python

virtualenv is installed by default with python itself and when you install virtualenv via pip3 and try to create virtual environment using pipenv you will get this error:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'virtualenv.seed.embed.via_app_data

check the version of installed virtualenv using apt list --installed mine is:

python3-virtualenv/focal,focal,now 20.0.17-1 all [installed,automatic] with the installed virtualenv by pip3 min is :

virtualenv             20.4.0

default installation of virtualenv is different with pip3 installed virtualenv so when you try to create a virtual environment using pipenv for example installing django in a directory home/user/djano with pipenv install django~=3.1.5 you will get that error the solution is remove installed virtualenv using pip3 uninstall virtualenv and use the default installation of virtualenv this time when you create virtual environment with pipenv it will create it successfully.

Solution 4 - Python

To fix this on Ubuntu 20.04, I had to uninstall virtualenv from the system: apt remove python3-virtualenv, and reinstall it using pip: pip install --user virtualenv --force-reinstall. I had errors about dependencies conflicts, I fixed them by calling pip install --user ${package} --force-reinstall for every package involved.

Solution 5 - Python

I want to have virtualenvwrapper. On Debian 10 testing I did:

apt remove python3-virtualenvwrapper  # not purge, I want no changes in ~/.virtualenvs/
apt purge python3-virtualenv
/usr/bin/python3.8 -m pip install --force-reinstall virtualenvwrapper
/usr/bin/python3.8 -m pip install --force-reinstall virtualenv==20.0.23

.24 no longer works. I hope it will be solved sometimes...

EDIT 2021.01: I have changed my stack to: pyenv + pyenv-virtualenvwrapper + poetry. Ie. I use no apt or pip installation of virtualenv or virtualenvwrapper, and instead I install pyenv's plugin pyenv-virtualenvwrapper. This is easier way.

Solution 6 - Python

If someone encounters this problem inside existing env (when for example using pyenv) you can also use command below (found on GitHub when tried to fix poetry virtual env installation):

pip install --force-reinstall virtualenv

Solution 7 - Python

When I installed virtualenv via pip3, it failed to run virtualenv command. Then I changed the installation via:

sudo apt install python3-virtualenv

The virtualenv command can normally work.

Solution 8 - Python

I also had same issue, seems installed version has different user level so I followed their doc and below one work for me:

python3 -m virtualenv --help

To create new environment:

python3 -m virtualenv my_env

Solution 9 - Python

I too had this issue. What I found is it is a permissions issue. For some unknown reason ownership of my home directory was off. I did a chown -R for the directory I was using for my project making myself the owner of my own directory and now everything works as normal.

Solution 10 - Python

It means that there are two virtualenv in your system. One is "pip install" by sudo or root, the other may be installed by apt(if you are using ubuntu os) Just uninstall one of them and the error should be fixed.

Solution 11 - Python

I fixed this error by removing all virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper related packages on system and reinstall the virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper with pip with below command(as i use ubuntu, so below only show apt) remove all packages shown in below result

apt list --installed | grep virtualenvwrapper 
apt list --installed | grep virtualenvwrapper

install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper with pip

pip install virtualenvwrapper virtualenvwrapper

set ~/.zshrc

export WORKON_HOME=$HOME/.virtualenvs
export PROJECT_HOME=$HOME/amd
export VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_SCRIPT=/home/robot/.local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
export VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_PYTHON=$(which python3)
source /home/robot/.local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Tung Ng.	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Python	techcheese	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Python	isalgueiro	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Python	Edalat Feizi	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Python	Victor Paléologue	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Python	mirek	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Python	devaerial	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Python	yushulx	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Python	Damith Asanka	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Python	Terry Turner	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Python	Eric	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Python	xiaojueguan	View Answer on Stackoverflow