How to resolve django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Requested setting INSTALLED_APPS error?

I am getting this error when I try to run python3 poppulate_first_app.py file (using Kali Linux and venv with django 3.1.7).

Error…

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/poppulate_first_app.py", line 4, in <module>
    from first_app.models import *
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/first_app/models.py", line 6, in <module>
    class Topic(models.Model):
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 108, in __new__
    app_config = apps.get_containing_app_config(module)
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 253, in get_containing_app_config
    self.check_apps_ready()
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 135, in check_apps_ready
    settings.INSTALLED_APPS
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 82, in __getattr__
    self._setup(name)
  File "/home/hadi/Documents/first_django_project/venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 63, in _setup
    raise ImproperlyConfigured(
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Requested setting INSTALLED_APPS, but settings are not configured. You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings.

I tried to run it on Windows too, but the same error, also I recreate the project in case I miss with settings or something, also I tried most of the answers posted here but none of them worked for me.

Here is my poppulate_first_app.py code:

import django
import random
from faker import Faker
from first_app.models import *
import os

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'first_django_project.settings')

django.setup()

# FAKE POP SCRIPT
fake_gen = Faker()
topics = ['Search', 'Social', 'Marketplace', 'News', 'Games']


def add_topic():
    t = Topic.objects.get_or_create(top_name=random.choice(topics))[0]
    t.save()
    return t


def populate(n=5):
    for entry in range(n):
        # get the topic for the entry
        top = add_topic()

        # create the fake data for that entry
        fake_url = fake_gen.url()
        fake_date = fake_gen.date()
        fake_name = fake_gen.company()

        # create the new webpage entry
        webpg = Webpage.objects.get_or_create(topic=top, url=fake_url, name=fake_name)[0]

        # create a fake access record for that webpage
        acc_rec = AccessRecord(namme=webpg, date=fake_date)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    print('Populating script!')
    populate(20)
    print('Populating complete!')

Here is my settings.py code:

"""
Django settings for first_django_project project.

Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 3.1.7.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/topics/settings/

For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/
"""

from pathlib import Path

# Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
TEMPLATES_DIR = BASE_DIR / 'templates'
STATIC_DIR = BASE_DIR / 'static'

# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'f*7mcgl1l+4l@$qxf!xp*91l%*1^cl@@rp8&_m5upzr&4j_dqr'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True


ALLOWED_HOSTS = []

# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'first_app.apps.FirstAppConfig',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
]

# import django
# django.setup()

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'first_django_project.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [TEMPLATES_DIR, ],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'first_django_project.wsgi.application'

# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
    }
}

# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]

# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True

# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/howto/static-files/

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
    STATIC_DIR,
]

Here is my models.py code:

from django.db import models


# Create your models here.

class Topic(models.Model):
    top_name = models.CharField(max_length=264, unique=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.top_name


class Webpage(models.Model):
    topic = models.ForeignKey(Topic, on_delete=models.DO_NOTHING)
    name = models.CharField(max_length=264, unique=True)
    url = models.URLField(unique=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.name


class AccessRecord(models.Model):
    name = models.ForeignKey(Webpage, on_delete=models.DO_NOTHING)
    date = models.DateField()

    def __str__(self):
        return str(self.date)

Here is my wsgi.py code:

"""
WSGI config for first_django_project project.

It exposes the WSGI callable as a module-level variable named ``application``.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/howto/deployment/wsgi/
"""

import os
from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'first_django_project.settings')

application = get_wsgi_application()