Common issues for Windows users

[nrad]

Hi all,

We have noticed few common issues for users working on Win VM. Hopefully this list will help new users having similar problems.

1. Access to data from Windows machine:
   The data is ahared through the Linux VM. You do not need to work on Linux, just copy the data out of it. Please see this post on how to copy data so it is available to Windows VM as well: Not able to get starter notebook
   Please read the workspace homepage (README) on details where to find the shared drive
2. Installing packages using pip in Jupyter Notebook fails:
   This may be due to proxy issue. It is sometimes caused by users interrupting VM start up scripts that make proxy settings when machine boots up. Please restart your VM, and make sure to allow start up scripts to execute. Once they do the proxy should be setup and internet access to allowed sites open.
3. Install Anaconda:
   Please see instructions here: https://knowledgebase.aridhia.io/article/installing-anaconda-and-running-jupyter-notebooks-on-the-virtual-machine/#windows
   Anaconda repo website is on the allow list and you can access it from the VM browser: https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/

Please let me know if you encounter any further issues.
Regards,
Ned

[roshaan7zafar]

pip is still not working despite turning off the proxy

[nrad]

Hi roshaan7zafar,

Please do not turn off the proxy, that would result in disabling internet access entirely and cause pip install to fail.

What can help is restarting the VM and making sure not to interrupt the start up scripts - then the proxy would be set up correctly and internet access to allowed sites should work.

If that still does not help you can set up proxy manually by typing these commands on the Anaconda prompt:
set HTTP_PROXY=http://10.0.0.5:3128
set HTTPS_PROXY=http://10.0.0.5:3128
set NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1
jupyter-notebook

[demarsylvain]

Hi,

I managed to open the R starter notebook (in Jupyter, on Windows VM), but I got a warning message at the first line of code, which is:

cat(system('curl -sL …

I didn’t edit the code, just click on “Run”.

The warning is:

aicrowd.R had status 6

is it normal? it generates an error at the next chunk, when trying to source this aicrowd.R file.

[michael_bordeleau]

Hi @demarsylvain,

from this thread, I was told to use this instead:

curl -k --output aicrowd.R https://gitlab.aicrowd.com/snippets/34123/raw

 

Also, did you open jupyter-notebook from the Anaconda Prompt, by setting the proxies first?
(Personally, I need to do it every time)

[jyot_makadiya]

Hello @nrad, first of all, thank you for all your efforts and hard work. I have completed the windows VM setup and got the starter notebook. However I am stuck on the %load_ext aicrowd.magic cell when tried to run, it generates error like this:
Import Error: failed to initialize: Bad git executable.
To check the issue, I tried running the pip command on the Anaconda prompt and there I saw that the pip was working there too. I have checked my proxy internet which is working fine as I was able to open pypi.python.org but in jupyter-notebook or anaconda prompt, I couldn’t make the second command work. Also, I tried restarting VM and ensuring that the starter script completes execution. It would be helpful if you can guide me on the issue.
Thanks!

[nrad]

Hi jyot_makadiya,

Thanks for a nice start of the message. It is much appreciated

I think @jyotish is better placed to answer the questiosn about executing magic cell. @jyotish, can you please help?

Regards,
Ned

[jyotish]

Hello @jyot_makadiya

Can you please install git using conda install git in your anaconda prompt and try running the notebook cells?

[jyot_makadiya]

Thanks, @jyotish and @nrad for helping me. It worked and I was able to successfully run the magic command. I am curious that I need to set all 3 proxies every time I open a new Anaconda Prompt. Any suggestion on how I can set universal or global proxies for that?

[jyotish]

Hello @jyot_makadiya

Ideally the proxy settings should be applied automatically. This would be the normal flow we expect to work

In your start menu, start typing jupyter and select Jupyter Notebook app.

Open any notebook and try installing something using pip (say, pip install numpy). The installation should work. Can you let us know if this doesn’t work?

[jyot_makadiya]

Hello @jyotish, actually I tried that earlier, and it doesn’t work for me. I have to open new prompt and set up proxies. Then after I can install using pip install x . I found that it is setting temporary proxies for one session I guess.

[jyotish]

Hello @jyot_makadiya

While we figure out the proper reason behind this not working, this should do as a temporary workaround.

1. Open notepad (start menu -> notepad).
2. Add the following content in the notepad

CALL C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\Scripts\activate.bat

set HTTP_PROXY=http://10.0.0.5:3128
set HTTPS_PROXY=http://10.0.0.5:3128
set NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1

cd C:\Users\workspace

jupyter-notebook

3. Save the file as jupyter.bat on your dekstop (do remember to select “All files” in the “Save as type”.
   
   

Now, you should be able to double click the jupyter icon on the desktop to launch the notebook. Please let us know if you need any further help with this.