# Accessing virtual environment within Paraview

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/accessing-virtual-environment-within-paraview/16295
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Tags:** python
**Created:** [March 11, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/accessing-virtual-environment-within-paraview/16295 "2025-03-11T13:00:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![mcgoldba](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mcgoldba/32/16108_2.png) [@mcgoldba](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mcgoldba)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/accessing-virtual-environment-within-paraview/16295/1 "2025-03-11T13:00:05Z")

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I am attempting to access a virtual environment within paraview as described here:

[Using Python Virtual environments in ParaView 5.13.0](https://www.kitware.com/using-python-virtual-environments-in-paraview-5-13-0/)

However, when I try to start paraview with `paraview --venv .venv/`, The paraview instance crashes as soon as I click on the Python Shell in the GUI. The terminal output is as follows

```auto
(py3.10.11) [marc@INBDQ2HPC03N01 run1]$ paraview --venv .venv/
ParaView is using venv: .venv/
VisRTX 0.1.6, using devices:
 0: NVIDIA A40 (Total: 47.7 GB, Available: 47.2 GB)
 1: NVIDIA A40 (Total: 47.7 GB, Available: 47.4 GB)
error: exception occurred: Segmentation fault

```

My system (Red Hat Linux 8) is built with an older version of Python, and I have installed Python 3.10.11 using conda. I activated the conda enviornment in terminal before running the above paraview command.

The virtual enviornment includes pyVista and some other custom code that I wrote.

I am running Paraview v5.13.2

Any suggestions on how to correct so I can access the virtual environment within paraview?

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### Author: ![jourdain](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/jourdain/32/11_2.png) [@jourdain](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/jourdain)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/accessing-virtual-environment-within-paraview/16295/2 "2025-03-12T00:38:56Z")

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What is inside your venv and which Python version did you use to create that venv?

1. It needs to match ParaView =\> Python 3.10
2. It can not have different version of packages that are already bundled inside ParaView (i.e. numpy, pandas)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![mcgoldba](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mcgoldba/32/16108_2.png) [@mcgoldba](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mcgoldba)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/accessing-virtual-environment-within-paraview/16295/3 "2025-03-12T03:12:19Z")

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I used the same python version as paraview (3.10.11 if I recall correctly), but I am not sure if the versions of packages inside the venv match those in paraview.

How can I check the version of packages used by paraview?

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### Author: ![jourdain](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/jourdain/32/11_2.png) [@jourdain](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/jourdain)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/accessing-virtual-environment-within-paraview/16295/4 "2025-03-12T22:52:40Z")

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just remove the ones from your venv that exist in ParaView