DJANGO + windows: .bat file: open a command prompt and run the commands

Question

I have to run the following set of commands after opening a windows cmd prompt

D:
cd Dev\project\backend
.\venv\Scripts\activate
python manage.py runserver

How to write a script(.bat) file for running these commands and the runserver will stay showing the output

I tried to put these commands in django.bat and double click, but a cmd window opens and within a fraction of second it closes. Dont know what happened

Answer 1

Instead of activating the venv then running manage.py separately, you should run directly using the python.exe from your virtual env.

It should look like this: > D:\\Dev\\project\\backend\\venv\\Scripts\\python.exe D:\\Dev\\project\\backend\\manage.py runserver

I don't really know what you intent to use this for, but in windows you should run your Django project using IIS. Check out django-windowsauth , you can use it to run Django on IIS in few commands. https://github.com/danyi1212/django-windowsauth . Just skip adding the middleware and the authentication backend of you don't need Windows Authentication on your site.

Answer 2

I tried to do this recently, but had to move onto something else quickly; given your question it's a nice opportunity to return to it, and I believe I've found the answer!

From what I found on my Laptop just now, the issue is with the activate line

.\venv\Scripts\activate

On Windows, this is another .bat file, and I suspect that calling it runs in a new cmd instance, rather than the current one

So I simply copied the entire contents of activate.bat and put it into my custom script, and it worked!

@echo off
cd D:\Dev\project\backend
-> Paste entire contents of activate.bat on this line <-
.\manage.py runserver