This document aims to give an overview of Windows-specific behaviour you should
know about when using Python on Microsoft Windows.
-.. XXX (ncoghlan)
-
- This looks rather stale to me...
-
-
Installing Python
=================
supported installation of Python. To make Python available, the CPython team
has compiled Windows installers (MSI packages) with every `release
<https://www.python.org/download/releases/>`_ for many years. These installers
-are primarily intended to add a system-wide installation of Python, with the
-core interpreter and library being shared by all application. Non-shared
-layouts of the Python interpreter may also be created with the same installer,
-however, the released installer is not intended for embedding in other
-installers.
+are primarily intended to add a per-user installation of Python, with the
+core interpreter and library being used by a single user. The installer is also
+able to install for all users of a single machine, and a separate ZIP file is
+available for application-local distributions.
Installation Steps
------------------
features. See :ref:`install-layout-option` for other ways to avoid downloading
during installation.
-After starting the installer, one of three options may be selected:
+After starting the installer, one of two options may be selected:
.. image:: win_installer.png
-If you select "Install for All Users":
-
-* You may be required to provide administrative credentials or approval
-* Python will be installed into your Program Files directory
-* The :ref:`launcher` will be installed into your Windows directory
-* The standard library, test suite, launcher and pip will be installed
-* After installation, the standard library will be pre-compiled to bytecode
-* If selected, the install directory will be added to :envvar:`PATH`
-
-If you select "Install Just for Me":
+If you select "Install Now":
-* You will *not* need to be an administrator
+* You will *not* need to be an administrator (unless a system update for the
+ C Runtime Library is required)
* Python will be installed into your user directory
* The :ref:`launcher` will *also* be installed into your user directory
* The standard library, test suite, launcher and pip will be installed
-* If selected, the install directory will be added to :envvar:`PATH`
+* If selected, the install directory will be added to your :envvar:`PATH`
+* Shortcuts will only be visible for the current user
Selecting "Customize installation" will allow you to select the features to
install, the installation location and other options or post-install actions.
To install debugging symbols or binaries, you will need to use this option.
+To perform an all-users installation, you should select "Customize
+installation". In this case:
+
+* You may be required to provide administrative credentials or approval
+* Python will be installed into the Program Files directory
+* The :ref:`launcher` will be installed into the Windows directory
+* Optional features may be selected during installation
+* The standard library will be pre-compiled to bytecode
+* If selected, the install directory will be added to the system :envvar:`PATH`
+* Shortcuts are available for all users
+
.. _install-quiet-option:
Installing Without UI
The :envvar:`PYTHONPATH` variable is used by all versions of Python 2 and
Python 3, so you should not permanently configure this variable unless it
- only includes code that is compatible all of your installed Python
+ only includes code that is compatible with all of your installed Python
versions.
.. seealso::