This document will guide you through installing Python 3.14 and Django on\nWindows. It also provides instructions for setting up a virtual environment,\nwhich makes it easier to work on Python projects. This is meant as a beginner’s\nguide for users working on Django projects and does not reflect how Django\nshould be installed when developing changes for Django itself.
\nThe steps in this guide have been tested with Windows 10. In other\nversions, the steps would be similar. You will need to be familiar with using\nthe Windows command prompt.
\nDjango is a Python web framework, thus requiring Python to be installed on your\nmachine. At the time of writing, Python 3.14 is the latest version.
\nTo install Python on your machine go to https://www.python.org/downloads/. The\nwebsite should offer you a download button for the latest Python version.\nDownload the executable installer and run it. Check the boxes next to «Install\nlauncher for all users (recommended)» then click «Install Now».
\nAfter installation, open the command prompt and check that the Python version\nmatches the version you installed by executing:
\n...\\> py --version\npipLink to this heading#pip is a package manager for Python and is included by default with the\nPython installer. It helps to install and uninstall Python packages\n(such as Django!). For the rest of the installation, we’ll use pip to\ninstall Python packages from the command line.
It is best practice to provide a dedicated environment for each Django project\nyou create. There are many options to manage environments and packages within\nthe Python ecosystem, some of which are recommended in the Python\ndocumentation.\nPython itself comes with venv for managing\nenvironments which we will use for this guide.
\nTo create a virtual environment for your project, open a new command prompt,\nnavigate to the folder where you want to create your project and then enter the\nfollowing:
\n...\\> py -m venv project-name\nThis will create a folder called “project-name” if it does not already exist\nand set up the virtual environment. To activate the environment, run:
\n...\\> project-name\\Scripts\\activate.bat\nThe virtual environment will be activated and you’ll see «(project-name)» next\nto the command prompt to designate that. Each time you start a new command\nprompt, you’ll need to activate the environment again.
\nDjango can be installed easily using pip within your virtual environment.
In the command prompt, ensure your virtual environment is active, and execute\nthe following command:
\n...\\> py -m pip install Django\nThis will download and install the latest Django release.
\nAfter the installation has completed, you can verify your Django installation\nby executing django-admin --version in the command prompt.
See Get your database running for information on database installation\nwith Django.
\nA quality-of-life feature adds colored (rather than monochrome) output to the\nterminal. In modern terminals this should work for both CMD and PowerShell. If\nfor some reason this needs to be disabled, set the environmental variable\nDJANGO_COLORS to nocolor.
On older Windows versions, or legacy terminals, colorama 0.4.6+ must be\ninstalled to enable syntax coloring:
\n...\\> py -m pip install "colorama >= 0.4.6"\nSee Syntax coloring for more information on color settings.
\nIf django-admin only displays the help text no matter what arguments\nit is given, there is probably a problem with the file association in\nWindows. Check if there is more than one environment variable set for\nrunning Python scripts in PATH. This usually occurs when there is more\nthan one Python version installed.
If you are connecting to the internet behind a proxy, there might be problems\nin running the command py -m pip install Django. Set the environment\nvariables for proxy configuration in the command prompt as follows:
...\\> set http_proxy=http://username:password@proxyserver:proxyport\n...\\> set https_proxy=https://username:password@proxyserver:proxyport\nIn general, Django assumes that UTF-8 encoding is used for I/O. This may\ncause problems if your system is set to use a different encoding. Recent\nversions of Python allow setting the PYTHONUTF8 environment\nvariable in order to force a UTF-8 encoding. Windows 10 also provides a\nsystem-wide setting by checking Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language\nsupport in in system settings.