# PYNQ-Z2 python Overlay errors

**URL:** <https://discuss.pynq.io/t/pynq-z2-python-overlay-errors/6025>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [September 6, 2023, 3:36am UTC](https://discuss.pynq.io/t/pynq-z2-python-overlay-errors/6025 "2023-09-06T03:36:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kiman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.pynq.io/kiman/32/5095_2.png) [@kiman](https://discuss.pynq.io/u/kiman)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 3:36am UTC](https://discuss.pynq.io/t/pynq-z2-python-overlay-errors/6025/1 "2023-09-06T03:36:34Z")

</div>

Hello,

I am trying to import and overlay the base.bit test for the PYNQ-Z2 board.  
It works with Jupyter notebooks, but with Python, it causes errors.

overlay test code py\_test2.py  
from pynq import Overlay  
base = Overlay(‘/home/xilinx/pynq/overlays/base/base.bit’)

(pynq-venv) xilinx@pynq:~/tmp$ python py\_test2.py  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/home/xilinx/tmp/py\_test2.py”, line 2, in   
base = Overlay(‘/home/xilinx/pynq/overlays/base/base.bit’)  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/overlay.py”, line 348, in **init**  
self.download()  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/overlay.py”, line 424, in download  
Clocks.set\_pl\_clk(i, div0, div1)  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/ps.py”, line 303, in set\_pl\_clk  
cls.\_instance.set\_pl\_clk(clk\_idx, div0, div1, clk\_mhz)  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/ps.py”, line 309, in \_instance  
cls.\_real\_instance = \_ClocksZynq()  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/ps.py”, line 581, in **init**  
self.\_slcr\_mmio = MMIO(self.SLCR\_BASE\_ADDRESS, 0x200)  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/mmio.py”, line 73, in **init**  
self.array = self.device.mmap(base\_addr, length)  
File “/usr/local/share/pynq-venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pynq/pl\_server/embedded\_device.py”, line 581, in mmap  
raise EnvironmentError(“Root permissions required.”)  
OSError: Root permissions required.  
(pynq-venv) xilinx@pynq:~/tmp$  
(pynq-venv) xilinx@pynq:~/tmp$ cat py\_test2.py  
from pynq import Overlay  
base = Overlay(‘/home/xilinx/pynq/overlays/base/base.bit’)  
(pynq-venv) xilinx@pynq:~/tmp$

Thanks,  
Kiman

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kiman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.pynq.io/kiman/32/5095_2.png) [@kiman](https://discuss.pynq.io/u/kiman)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://discuss.pynq.io/t/pynq-z2-python-overlay-errors/6025/2 "2023-09-06T18:17:39Z")

</div>

Solved,

I did the below steps for the test and it worked.

* * *

This is probably because from v2.7 we are running inside a virtual environment.

Instead of running python in sudo try:

```auto
sudo -i
source /etc/profile.d/pynq_venv.sh
python3

```

Thanks  
Shawn