How to prevent students from installing packages?

[abdullahkhalids]

My students will often put installation instructions (via cells starting with !pip install )in their submissions. This results in these packages installed on the "instructor computer" when the grader runs on the submission. Is there any way, I can ask nbgrader to ignore these cells?

[jeflem]

In your grading code you may use the variable _i to access the source code of the previous cell (the student's answer). Search it for unwanted strings like !pip or import xyz (to prohibit using package xyz). See IPython doc for more such variables.

[abdullahkhalids]

My solution was to remove the pip module itself from the virtual environment. I did that by just renaming the pip folder inside the virtual environment.