Install Python on Windows
A number of my students want to run the databases and development environments on Windows rather than Linux. Some of the students have various problems configuring a virtual machine or Docker environment on their laptops.
Installing Python on Windows is quite straightforward. You simply open a Windows Command Line Interface (CLI) with Administrator privileges and type python at the command line. It will launch a dialog that lets you download and install Python.
After the installation, you are returned to the Windows CLI where you can type python to launch the Python IDE. You’ll learn that it’s an older version when it opens.
Python 3.10.2 (tags/v3.10.2:a58ebcc, Jan 17 2022, 14:12:15) [MSC v.1929 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> |
After installing Python, I started to install drivers with the Python package-management utility – PIP. I loaded the psycopg2 driver first and discovered that Windows installed an older version of PIP, as qualified when I installed the Python library:
pip install psycopg2 Collecting psycopg2 Downloading psycopg2-2.9.3-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl (1.2 MB) |████████████████████████████████| 1.2 MB 1.6 MB/s Installing collected packages: psycopg2 Successfully installed psycopg2-2.9.3 WARNING: You are using pip version 21.2.4; however, version 22.0.3 is available. You should consider upgrading via the 'C:\Users\mclaughlinm\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip' command. |
So, I immediately installed the new version of PIP and discovered that I have to manually reset the %PATH% environment variable.
python -m pip install --upgrade pip Requirement already satisfied: pip in c:\program files\windowsapps\pythonsoftwarefoundation.python.3.10_3.10.752.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\lib\site-packages (21.2.4) Collecting pip Downloading pip-22.0.3-py3-none-any.whl (2.1 MB) |████████████████████████████████| 2.1 MB 656 kB/s Installing collected packages: pip WARNING: The scripts pip.exe, pip3.10.exe and pip3.exe are installed in 'C:\Users\mclaughlinm\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python310\Scripts' which is not on PATH. Consider adding this directory to PATH or, if you prefer to suppress this warning, use --no-warn-script-location. Successfully installed pip-22.0.3 |
The default location for the PIP.exe and PIP3.exe are found in the:
C:\Users\mclaughlinm\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps |
Rather than put the newer directory in the System Environment %PATH% variable, I created a batch file that lets me set it only when I need it.
SET PATH=C:\Users\mclaughlinm\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python310\Scripts;%PATH% |
After installing the psycopg2 driver, I tested the new_hire.sql and new_hire.py files from this earlier Linux post successfully. I hope this helps those looking to work with Python on Windows.
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