Why wouldn't I want to add Python.exe to my System Path at install time?

python windows path-variables python-install
Seamus Nanatchk picture Seamus Nanatchk · Jul 16, 2014 · Viewed 8.7k times · Source

I'm reinstalling Python, on Windows 7, and one of the first dialog boxes is the Customize Python screen.

The default setting for "Add Python.exe to Path" is "Entire feature will be unavailable."

I always change this to "Will be installed on local hard drive."

It's not an issue, changing the system environment variables is a snap, but is there any upside to leaving this un-ticked?

Answer

skrrgwasme picture skrrgwasme · Jul 16, 2014

If you only have one version of Python installed, it won't matter.

If you have multiple versions installed, then the first one that appears in your system Path will be executed when you use the "python" command. Additionally, it can make older versions inaccessible without extra work. For example, I had a system with Python 2.7 installed and I added 3.2 on top of that and checked the option to to add Python.exe to the path during installation. After doing that, entering both "python" and "python3" on the command line opened up Python 3.2, so I would need to enter the full path to the 2.7 interpreter when I needed to execute 2.x scripts.

Related questions

How can I install pip on Windows?

pip is a replacement for easy_install. But should I install pip using easy_install on Windows? Is there a better way?

Read More
How to add to the PYTHONPATH in Windows, so it finds my modules/packages?

I have a directory which hosts all of my Django apps (C:\My_Projects). I want to add this directory to my PYTHONPATH so I can call the apps directly. I tried adding C:\My_Projects\; to my Windows Path …

Read More
'pip' is not recognized as an internal or external command

I'm running into a weird error when trying to install Django on my computer. This is the sequence that I typed into my command line: C:\Python34> python get-pip.py Requirement already up-to-date: pip in c:\python34\lib\site-packages …

Read More