Create a Python3 virtual environment

Last published : Oct 15, 2026
If you are connecting to the network, running the sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/bin/xdping or /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/enable_ldaps.sh command can create a Python3 virtual environment. However, if the commands fail to create a Python3 virtual environment, you can create it manually even without a network connection. This article details the prerequisites and steps to create a Python3 virtual environment without a network connection.
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Prerequisites

  • You must have administrative privileges to access the /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3 directory.
  • The wheel files of Python3 packages are in place. You can download the wheel files from <https://pypi.org/>.

Create a Python3 virtual environment

Complete the following steps to create a Python3 virtual environment:
  1. Install Python3 dependencies.
    For Amazon Linux 2:
    yum -y install python3 python3-devel krb5-devel gcc
    For RHEL and Rocky Linux:
    yum -y install python3-devel krb5-devel gcc
    Note:
    You might have to enable a particular repository to install some dependencies. For RHEL 7, run the subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-7-server-optional-rpms command. For RHEL 8, run the subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms command.
    For Debian, Ubuntu:
    apt-get -y install python3-dev python3-pip python3-venv libkrb5-dev
    For SUSE:
    zypper -n install lsb-release python3-devel python3-setuptools krb5-devel gcc libffi-devel libopenssl-devel
  2. Create a Python3 virtual environment.
    Note:
    To address SSL connection errors that you might encounter when using the pip tool, consider adding the following trusted hosts to the /etc/pip.conf file:
    \> [global]
    trusted-host =
    \> pypi.org
    files.pythonhosted.org
    For Amazon Linux 2, Debian, RHEL, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu:
    sudo python3 -m venv /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3
    For SUSE:
    sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mit/bin/krb5-config /usr/bin/krb5-config

    export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/mit/bin:/usr/lib/mit/sbin

    sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/mit/include/gssapi/

    sudo ln -s /usr/include/gssapi/gssapi_ext.h/usr/lib/mit/include/gssapi/gssapi_ext.h

    sudo python3 -m venv /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3
  3. Install LDAPS dependencies.
    sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3/bin/python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip==21.3.1

    sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3/bin/python3 -m pip install cffi==1.15.0 cryptography==36.0.2 decorator==5.1.1 gssapi==1.7.3 ldap3==2.9.1 pyasn1==0.4.8 pycparser==2.21 six==1.16.0
  4. Install XDPing dependencies.
    sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3/bin/python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip==21.3.1

    sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3/bin/python3 -m pip install asn1crypto==1.5.1 cffi==1.15.0 cryptography==36.0.2 decorator==5.1.1 gssapi==1.7.3 ldap3==2.9.1 netifaces==0.11.0 packaging==21.3 pg8000==1.26.0 psutil==5.9.0 pyasn1==0.4.8 pycparser==2.21 pyparsing==3.0.8 scramp==1.4.1 six==1.16.0 termcolor==1.1.0

    sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3/bin/python3 -m pip install /opt/Citrix/VDA/sbin/ctxpython3/packages/xdping-*.whl