This is a companion article to installing Python using embedable packages – here I just look at installing using plain executables.

Do/what Python do I have aready?

Run the launcher with list option:

py --list

This will show all installed versions of Python. You can run a specific already installled version of python with e.g.:

py -3.9

Selecting the installation package

The offical packages are available at: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/. Note that version numbers are not decimals, i.e., 3.10 is a later version than 3.9. However the directory will be lexically sorted which means that 3.9 is listed after 3.10!

Usually 64-bit version of Python is best, which will have the the suffix -amd64.exe.

Quick installation

It is possible to install the package without GUI or user intervention, e.g., :

$pythondir="C:\python\3.10.9"
python-3.10.9-amd64.exe  /passive TargetDir=$pythondir Shortcuts=0 Include_debug=1 Include_launcher=1 Include_tcltk=0

Add Python to path manually

To add Python to path in a powershell session use:

$env:path = ($pythondir +";" + $pythondir +"\Scripts;" + $env:path )