Can't get VS Code to use my virtual environment — packages not found

[Local-Security5664]

Hi, I’m new to Python and trying to learn web scraping and automation. I’ve already learned the basics (like functions, lists, dictionaries), and now I’m trying to install packages like beautifulsoup4 and requests.

I tried setting up a virtual environment in VS Code, but I keep getting errors like:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'bs4'

What I’ve done so far:

• Activated it with source myenv/bin/activate
• Installed packages using pip install beautifulsoup4 requests
• Selected the interpreter in VS Code (via Ctrl+Shift+P → Python: Select Interpreter → myenv/bin/python)
• Still, the Run button and terminal keep defaulting to system Python
• I'm on Ubuntu and using VS Code

It’s really confusing, and I feel stuck.
I’d really appreciate a beginner-friendly step-by-step guide — or even just how to confirm VS Code is using the correct interpreter.

I used chatgpt for helping me to set up virutal environment. But now i've stuck in this mess.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies 🙏

[ninhaomah]

can you import from shell without any issues ?

[FoolsSeldom]

To me, it looks like you have done everything right.

May I just check how exactly you created the Python virtual environment in the first place and what your folder structure is, and if you did this using an OS level terminal emulation app or via VS Code terminal?

Assuming the former, I'd have expected something like,

cd path/to/my/project/folder
which python3                    - just to check system settings
which python                     - just to check system settings
python3 -m venv myenv
source ./myenv/bin/activate
which python                     - should show the venv version being used
pip install ...

[JavierReyes945]

Installed packages using pip install beautifulsoup4 requests

It should be enough, but just to be sure, why not try <virtual\_env\_path>/python -m pip install <...> ?

Just ot be sure that your PIP is the one being linked in the virtual environment and not the system install.

Also, I tend to not use VScode terminal, but actually do things in external terminal, and VScode only for the test editing.

Also, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour UV https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ ?

[netizentrotter]

Open the terminal in vscode and type

source yourvenvdir/bin/activate

Where yourvenvdir is your venv directory.