<> {{{#!wiki warning This document is deprecated. Please see the [[https://rattailproject.org/docs/rattail-manual/base/install/windows/index.html|Rattail Manual]] instead. }}} = Python Installation on Microsoft Windows = Installing on Windows is a little more involved than with other operating systems, since Python does not come bundled with Windows. == Python == The first thing you'll need is Python itself, available at [[http://www.python.org/download/]]. The version you choose to download should ideally be of the 2.7 variety, and should otherwise match your platform generally (e.g. 64-bit if applicable). Note that Python 2.6 is also supported, but Python 3 is ''not'' (yet) supported. As of this writing, the most recent 2.7 releases are: * [[http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.3/python-2.7.3.msi|Python 2.7.3 Windows Installer]] * [[http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.3/python-2.7.3.amd64.msi|Python 2.7.3 Windows X86-64 Installer]] Download the appropriate installer and run it. === Modify PATH === Once Python is installed, you really should modify your system `PATH` environment variable to make things easier on yourself. How to do so is documented elsewhere on the web (e.g. [[http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm|here]]). The specifics of this step may vary depending on the version of Python you've installed, as well as where you installed it on the hard drive. Assuming you installed Python 2.7 to `C:\Python27`, you should add the following two folder paths to your `PATH` environment variable: * `C:\Python27` * `C:\Python27\Scripts` Once this step is complete, you should be able to execute Python directly from a command line, e.g.: {{{ C:\> python --version }}} {{{#!wiki note Each instance of `cmd.exe` inherits a copy of `PATH` when it is first launched, so if you had `cmd.exe` running already when you modified `PATH`, you'll need to close and re-open it in order to properly test your `PATH` modifications. }}} == Python for Windows Extensions == Finally you'll need Mark Hammond's "Python for Windows Extensions" package, available at [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/]]. The installer you choose should match the Python version you've installed, as well as the platform you're using (e.g. 64-bit). As of this writing, the latest build is 217; the links are: * [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/Build%20217/pywin32-217.win32-py2.7.exe/download|pywin32-217.win32-py2.7.exe]] * [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/Build%20217/pywin32-217.win-amd64-py2.7.exe/download|pywin32-217.win-amd64-py2.7.exe]]