Setting Up Jupyter on an Enterprise Laptop

If you're on a corporate machine with admin restrictions, installing Python tools takes a few extra steps compared to a personal laptop. This guide walks you through everything from scratch — no prior experience needed.

By the end you'll have Anaconda (which bundles Python + Jupyter) and Visual Studio Code (a code editor) both working on your machine.

Before you start

Make sure you have the following ready:

Your IT colleague's contact details (or a remote support session already booked)
Access to the Microsoft Store on your laptop
A stable internet connection
About 30–60 minutes of free time (most of it is waiting for downloads)

⚠️ Admin rights required for Part 1. Enterprise laptops often block software installs to the default location. You'll need your IT colleague to either sit with you, remote in, or walk you through any prompts that ask for an admin password. Let them know in advance you're installing Anaconda to the C drive.

Part 1 — Install Anaconda (needs IT help)

Anaconda is a free package that installs Python, Jupyter Notebook, and a bunch of useful data tools all in one go. Think of it as the engine that powers everything.

ℹ️ Loop in IT before starting this section. They may need to remotely unlock the installer or enter an admin password partway through. The whole process takes about 10 minutes on their end.

1Download the Anaconda installer

Open a browser and go to anaconda.com/download. Click the big Download button. This grabs the Windows installer (a .exe file, roughly 900 MB — give it a few minutes).

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Anaconda download page with Download button highlighted]

2Run the installer

Once downloaded, open your Downloads folder and double-click the file (it'll be named something like Anaconda3-2024.xx-Windows-x86_64.exe).

A setup wizard will open. Click Next to get through the first two screens (licence agreement and user selection).

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Anaconda installer welcome screen]

3Set the install location to the C drive

On the Choose Install Location screen, you need to point the installer at a folder inside C:\ that you actually have permission to write to. A good default is:

C:\Users\YourUsername\anaconda3

Replace YourUsername with your actual Windows username (the name you see on the Start menu). If that path is already pre-filled, great — leave it as is.

⚠️ IT colleague needed here. If you see a message saying you don't have permission to install to that path, or if the installer asks for an admin password, hand over to your IT contact at this point. They'll either enter credentials or change the install path to somewhere appropriate on the C drive.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Anaconda 'Choose Install Location' screen with C:\Users\YourUsername\anaconda3 in the path box]

4Advanced options — keep defaults

On the next screen (Advanced Installation Options), leave everything as the default unless IT tells you otherwise. Then click Install and wait — this usually takes 5–10 minutes.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Anaconda 'Advanced Options' screen showing default checkboxes]

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Anaconda installation progress bar running]

5Finish and verify

When the installer says Installation Complete, click Finish. You can uncheck the "open Anaconda Navigator" boxes if you want — we won't be using Navigator.

To confirm it worked, open the Start menu and search for Anaconda Prompt. If it appears in the results, the install was successful.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Start menu search showing 'Anaconda Prompt' in results]

6Quick sanity check

Open Anaconda Prompt (click it from the Start menu). A black terminal window will appear. Type the following and press Enter:

jupyter notebook

Your default browser should open with the Jupyter file browser. If you see that, you're done with Part 1 — Jupyter is working. You can close the browser tab and the terminal window for now.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Jupyter Notebook file browser open in Chrome/Edge]

✅ If your browser opens but shows an error, or nothing happens, let IT know — it's likely a firewall rule blocking the local connection Jupyter uses.

Part 2 — Install Visual Studio Code via the Microsoft Store

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free code editor. Once it's connected to your Anaconda install, you can write and run notebooks directly inside it — no browser needed. Because you're installing through the Microsoft Store, no admin rights are required here.

1Open the Microsoft Store

Click the Start menu and search for Microsoft Store, then open it. (It may already be pinned to your taskbar — it looks like a little shopping bag with the Windows logo.)

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Microsoft Store icon in taskbar / Start menu]

2Search for Visual Studio Code

In the search bar at the top of the Store, type Visual Studio Code and press Enter. Click on the result published by Microsoft Corporation.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — Microsoft Store search results showing 'Visual Studio Code' by Microsoft Corporation]

3Install it

Click Get (or Install). The Store handles the download and installation automatically — no admin prompts, no wizards. Wait for the button to change to Open.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — VS Code Store page with 'Get' button, then progress bar, then 'Open' button]

4Open VS Code and install the Python extension

Click Open (or find VS Code in the Start menu next time). On the left sidebar you'll see a square icon — that's the Extensions panel. Click it (or press Ctrl+Shift+X).

Search for Python and install the extension published by Microsoft. This is what lets VS Code understand Python files and notebooks.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — VS Code Extensions panel with 'Python' extension by Microsoft highlighted]

5Point VS Code at your Anaconda Python

Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the command palette. Type Python: Select Interpreter and press Enter. A list of detected Python environments will appear — pick the one that shows anaconda3 in its path (it'll look something like C:\Users\YourUsername\anaconda3\python.exe).

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — VS Code interpreter picker showing anaconda3 option]

✅ If the anaconda3 environment doesn't show up in the list, close and reopen VS Code, then try again. Windows sometimes needs a restart to pick up new PATH entries.

6Test it with a notebook

Press Ctrl+Shift+P again, type Create: New Jupyter Notebook, and press Enter. A blank notebook will open. Click into the first cell, type:

print("hello world")

Then press Shift+Enter to run it. If you see hello world printed below the cell, everything is working.

📷 [Screenshot placeholder — VS Code notebook with print('hello world') cell and output showing 'hello world']

Common issues

Problem	What to try
Installer says “access denied”	This is the admin wall. Call IT — they need to remotely unlock the install path on the C drive.
Anaconda Prompt doesn't appear in Start menu after install	Restart your laptop, then search again. If still missing, re-run the installer.
jupyter notebook command opens a browser but shows a connection error	A firewall rule may be blocking port 8888. Ask IT to whitelist localhost:8888.
VS Code doesn't show anaconda3 in the interpreter list	Restart VS Code. If it still doesn't appear, open Anaconda Prompt, run code ., and VS Code will open from within the environment.
Kernel keeps dying when running a notebook cell	The kernel is the process actually running your code. Try restarting it: click Kernel → Restart in the notebook menu, or the circular arrow button in VS Code.

You're all set

At this point you should have a working Jupyter environment on your enterprise laptop. From here you can:

Open notebooks directly in VS Code via File → Open File
Install extra Python packages by opening Anaconda Prompt and running pip install package-name
Check out the other guides in this site for working with specific datasets and chart types