Minimal Windows Setup for Quantum Machine Learning

1. Overview

This guide shows a minimal, reproducible Windows setup for running quantum computing examples in your qml_thesis project folder using Qiskit and PennyLane.

• Create a dedicated Conda environment qml_env.
• Install Qiskit, PennyLane, Jupyter, and core scientific Python tools.
• Run a first superposition demo from code/01_qc_basics.

2. Environment setup (Miniconda)

2.1 Install Miniconda or Anaconda

Download the latest 64‑bit installer for Miniconda or Anaconda for Windows and complete the installation. During setup, allow it to initialize Conda for your user account so the conda command is available in Terminal.

2.2 Create the qml_env environment

Open Anaconda Prompt or a terminal where Conda works, then run:

conda create -n qml_env python=3.10
conda activate qml_env

2.3 Install quantum and scientific libraries

Install Qiskit, PennyLane, and supporting packages:

pip install qiskit qiskit-machine-learning qiskit-aer
pip install pennylane pennylane-qiskit
pip install jupyter jupyterlab matplotlib numpy pandas scikit-learn

2.4 Verify versions

Confirm that Qiskit and PennyLane are available inside the environment:

python -c "import qiskit; import pennylane;
print(qiskit.__version__, pennylane.__version__)"

If this prints two version numbers without errors, the environment is ready.

3. Project folder structure

Use a simple, consistent folder layout for your thesis work. Example structure (Windows path):

D:\MyMScResearch-Usak\qml_thesis\
├── code\
│   └── 01_qc_basics\
├── notes\
├── readings\
├── results\
└── thesis\

All quantum example programs for this guide live under code\01_qc_basics\.

4. First QC program – superposition demo

4.1 Create the Python file

Create a new file called superposition_demo.py inside:

D:\MyMScResearch-Usak\qml_thesis\code\01_qc_basics\

Paste the following code:

from qiskit import QuantumRegister, ClassicalRegister, QuantumCircuit
from qiskit_aer import AerSimulator
from qiskit import transpile

# One-qubit register and classical bit
qr = QuantumRegister(1, "q")
cr = ClassicalRegister(1, "c")
qc = QuantumCircuit(qr, cr)

# Put qubit into superposition
qc.h(qr[0])
qc.measure(qr, cr)

# Simulate the circuit
sim = AerSimulator()
job = sim.run(transpile(qc, sim), shots=1024)
print("Counts:", job.result().get_counts())
print(qc)

4.2 Run the program

In Terminal, execute:

conda activate qml_env
cd D:\MyMScResearch-Usak\qml_thesis\code\01_qc_basics
python superposition_demo.py

You should see measurement counts with approximately 50% 0 and 50% 1 – a simple “spinning‑coin” superposition experiment.

5. Troubleshooting

• 'conda' is not recognized – reopen Anaconda Prompt, or ensure Miniconda is installed and initialized for your user.
• Import errors for qiskit or pennylane – verify that conda activate qml_env is run before Python, and re‑run the pip install ... commands.
• Qiskit Aer not found – confirm that qiskit-aer is listed in pip list inside the environment.