[SOLVED] Virtualenv not creating an environment

Issue

I installed Virtualenv on Ubuntu 12.04 and was using it to work on a sample project under the unity desktop. I'm using VirtualBox and was having some issues with the unity desktop so changed to the KDE desktop.

I'm now trying to create a new project but the virtualenv won't allow me to create a new environment in my project folder. In the terminal I navigate to the project folder, type virtualenv venv and get the following error messages:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/virtualenv", line 3, in <module>
    virtualenv.main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualenv.py", line 938, in main
    never_download=options.never_download)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualenv.py", line 1039, in create_environment
    site_packages=site_packages, clear=clear))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualenv.py", line 1215, in install_python
    copyfile(stdinc_dir, inc_dir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualenv.py", line 430, in copyfile
    copyfileordir(src, dest)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/virtualenv.py", line 405, in copyfileordir
    shutil.copytree(src, dest, True)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 206, in copytree
    raise Error, errors
shutil.Error: [('/usr/include/python2.7/numpy', 'venv/include/python2.7/numpy', '[Errno 30] Read-only file system')]

Can anyone help me resolve this? I've tried reinstalling virtualenv but no joy. Thanks

Solution

Ok after a bit more in-depth googling found that this is a VirtualBox issue, not a Ubuntu problem. The shared folders are protected from this activity. I don't know how/why it worked the first time round but it is a known bug. I created a project outside of the shared folder with no problems. Thanks for the input Dougal.

Answered By - adohertyd

Answer Checked By - David Goodson (WPSolving Volunteer)