Python windows user directory

Import statements other than to site are not permitted, and arbitrary code cannot be specified. Note that. When no. Subkeys which have semicolon-delimited path strings as their default value will cause each path to be added to sys. If a Python home is found, the relevant sub-directories added to sys. Otherwise, the core Python path is constructed from the PythonPath stored in the registry. If a pyvenv. When running python.

When Python is hosted in another. For those who want to bundle Python into their application or distribution, the following advice will prevent conflicts with other installations:. Include a. This will ignore paths listed in the registry and environment variables, and also ignore site unless import site is listed. If you are loading python3. If you cannot use the previous suggestions for example, you are a distribution that allows people to run python. These will ensure that the files in a system-wide installation will not take precedence over the copy of the standard library bundled with your application.

Otherwise, your users may experience problems using your application. Note that the first suggestion is the best, as the others may still be susceptible to non-standard paths in the registry and user site-packages. Adds pythonXX. Modules specified in the registry under Modules not PythonPath may be imported by importlib. This finder is enabled on Windows in 3. Even though Python aims to be portable among all platforms, there are features that are unique to Windows.

A couple of modules, both in the standard library and external, and snippets exist to use these features. This includes utilities for:. It is an embeddable IDE with a built-in debugger. When you have done this, you can distribute your application without requiring your users to install Python. H , used to create text user interfaces. If you want to compile CPython yourself, first thing you should do is get the source. The source tree contains a build solution and project files for Microsoft Visual Studio , which is the compiler used to build the official Python releases.

These files are in the PCbuild directory. With ongoing development of Python, some platforms that used to be supported earlier are no longer supported due to the lack of users or developers. Check PEP 11 for details on all unsupported platforms.

Windows CE is still supported. The Cygwin installer offers to install the Python interpreter as well cf. Cygwin package source , Maintainer releases. See Python for Windows for detailed information about platforms with pre-compiled installers. Navigation index modules next previous Python ». In this case: You may be required to provide administrative credentials or approval Python will be installed into the Program Files directory The Python Launcher for Windows will be installed into the Windows directory Optional features may be selected during installation The standard library can be pre-compiled to bytecode If selected, the install directory will be added to the system PATH Shortcuts are available for all users.

After changing the above option, no further configuration is required. This will override most other options. Warning Python will always be available for free on the Microsoft Store. Note The embedded distribution does not include the Microsoft C Runtime and it is the responsibility of the application installer to provide this. The following is a list of popular versions and their key features: ActivePython Installer with multi-platform compatibility, documentation, PyWin32 Anaconda Popular scientific modules such as numpy, scipy and pandas and the conda package manager.

WinPython Windows-specific distribution with prebuilt scientific packages and tools for building packages. For example, if you have a shebang line:! Examples: If no relevant options are set, the commands python and python2 will use the latest Python 2. The end result of all this is: When running python.

For those who want to bundle Python into their application or distribution, the following advice will prevent conflicts with other installations: Include a. Deprecated since version 3. See also Win32 How Do I…? Cygwin package source , Maintainer releases See Python for Windows for detailed information about platforms with pre-compiled installers. Table of Contents 4. Using Python on Windows 4.

The full installer 4. Installation steps 4. Installing Without UI 4. Installing Without Downloading 4. Modifying an install 4. The Microsoft Store package 4. Known Issues 4. The embeddable package 4. Python Application 4.

Embedding Python 4. Alternative bundles 4. Configuring Python 4. Excursus: Setting environment variables 4. Finding the Python executable 4.

UTF-8 mode 4. Python Launcher for Windows 4. Getting started 4. From the command-line 4. Virtual environments 4. From a script 4. From file associations 4. Shebang Lines 4. Arguments in shebang lines 4. Customization 4. Customization via INI files 4. Customizing default Python versions 4. Diagnostics 4. Finding modules 4.

Additional modules 4. PyWin32 4. WConio 4. Compiling Python on Windows 4. Other Platforms Previous topic 3. Configure Python Next topic 5. See History and License for more information.

The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation. Please donate. Last updated on Jan 13, Found a bug? Ubuntu and Fedora , for instance, have entirely different procedures for installing Python. On Linux and MacOS , the target directory for the install is usually predetermined and based on the Python version number, e.

One way to avoid dealing with the intricacies of Linux package managers is to use a containerized Python runtime. Note that you can use containerized Python on Windows as well. A tool named asdf-vm also comes in handy here. MacOS has traditionally shipped with a version of Python installed, but never more recent than Python 2. This created problems when Python 3 arrived, as the two versions often conflicted.

Homebrew provides a consistent interface for downloading, installing, managing, and removing Python and other third-party command-line apps. Set up your project directories, install Python virtual environments into them , then install packages into those virtual environments.

This way, the base installation stays clean. For a high-level way to manage multiple projects with virtual environments and dependencies, look into the Poetry project. Poetry provides a command-line tool for managing virtual environments and dependencies at a high level. The single hardest issue when dealing with Python installations is how to handle different versions of Python installed side-by-side. Two universal rules of thumb apply here:. Running multiple Python versions argues strongly in favor of per-project virtual environments.

When the virtual environment is activated, all Python activity within the context of the project is automatically directed towards the right version of Python,. Another option Windows users have to control which Python version to use when multiples are installed is the py launcher app. For instance, to run pip for Python 3. Minor revision upgrades for Python — e. On Windows, the installer detects the presence of the existing version and upgrades it. On Linux and MacOS, the installer or package manager typically does the same thing.

As you may know, the OS module provides a portable way of using operating system dependent functionality. Of our interest, the submodule of our interest is the os. To get started, we'll explain step by step what every piece of code means. Knowing this, you can automatically assume the Desktop directory of the user appending the Desktop keyword at the end of the path obtained from the mentioned environment variable.

This can be made in a single line of code:. Interested in programming since he was 14 years old, Carlos is a self-taught programmer and founder and author of most of the articles at Our Code World.