I created a virtualenv with the following command. mkvirtualenv --distribute --system-site-packages "$1" After starting the virtualenv with workon, I type ipython. It prompts me WARNING: Attempting to work in a virtualenv. If you encounter problems, please install IPython inside the virtualenv. When I try to install ipython with the virtualenv, I got the following error message: pip install ipython Requirement already satisfied (use --upgrade to upgrade): ipython in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages Cleaning up... Does anyone know how to install inside the virtualenv? Continue reading...