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Welcome soon to be Python user! Python is one of the easiest programming languages to learn and grow with. But there are a few bumps right at the beginning.**One of these bumps is to make sure you have Python installed** and that it's a sufficiently new version (generally 3.6+ is solid these days).

Welcome soon to be Python user! Python is one of the easiest programming languages to learn and grow with. But there are a few bumps right at the beginning.**One of these bumps is to make sure you have Python installed** and that it's a sufficiently new version (generally 3.9+ is solid these days).

Because how you install and verify Python varies by operating system, we've put together this short guide. It's goal is to give you exposure to the various ways on your operating system to**install and maintain Python in a concise and no-nonsense manner**. So with out further ado, let's get you setup!

If you see this and the reported version number is sufficently high (often 3.6 or higher),**you are good to go**.

If you see this and the reported version number is sufficently high (often 3.9 or higher),**you are good to go**.

**Pros**

* Easiest way to get Python on Windows**without administrator permissions**

* Will keep Python up-to-date automatically within a release version (3.9 updates but not 3.9->3.10)

* Will keep Python up-to-date automatically within a release version (3.10 updates but not 3.10->3.11)

* Maintained by the core developers who work at Microsoft

**Cons**

1. Open the Microsoft Store on Windows

2. Search for Python

3. Find the latest version of Python from Microsoft (currently lists 3.7, 3.8, and[**3.9**](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/python-39/9p7qfqmjrfp7?activetab=pivot:overviewtab))

3. Find the latest version of Python from Microsoft (currently lists 3.7, 3.8,3.9,and[**3.10**](https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9PJPW5LDXLZ5))

4. Install from the Microsoft Store

5. Close all terminal and command prompt windows

6. Run`python -V` in a new terminal window to verify you have Python now working

Chocolatey is a[package manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_manager): software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer's operating system in a consistent manner. If you're comfortable using package managers, then this is a good option for you because you can continually update and maintain Python on your system.

[Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/) is a[package manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_manager): software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer's operating system in a consistent manner. If you're comfortable using package managers, then this is a good option for you because you can continually update and maintain Python on your system.

**Pros**

2. Open an**[administrator command prompt](https://www.howtogeek.com/194041/how-to-open-the-command-prompt-as-administrator-in-windows-8.1/)**

3. Install the latest Python:`choco install python`

4. Peridocially check for a new release: Open admin command prompt and run`choco upgrade python`

5. Close all terminal and command prompt windows

5. Close all terminal and command prompt windows and reopen one (to refresh the path)

6. Run`python -V` in a new terminal window to verify you have Python now working

* Generally uses[conda environements](https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html) rather than[Python's virtual environments](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-virtual-environment/) - this can lead to a mismatch in instructions when Anaconda is not the primary tool used.

* Packages available here often lag behind in release schedule from PyPI / pip

* Often one whole version behind on Python (e.g. 3.8 rather than 3.9)

* Often one whole version behind on Python (e.g. 3.9 rather than 3.10)

**Install steps - Anaconda distribution on Windows**

If you see this and the reported version number is sufficently high (often 3.6 or higher),**you are good to go**.

If`python3`**does NOT run successfully**, but`python` (without the 3) itself does and you see the output:

* Generally uses[conda environements](https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html) rather than[Python's virtual environments](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-virtual-environment/) - this can lead to a mismatch in instructions when Anaconda is not the primary tool used.

* Packages available here often lag behind in release schedule from PyPI / pip

* Often one whole version behind on Python (e.g. 3.8 rather than 3.9)

* Often one whole version behind on Python (e.g. 3.9 rather than 3.10)

**Install steps - Anaconda distribution on Windows**

If you see this and the reported version number is sufficently high (often 3.6 or higher),**you are good to go**.

If`python3`**does NOT run successfully**, but`python` (without the 3) itself does and you see the output:

* Generally uses[conda environements](https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html) rather than[Python's virtual environments](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-virtual-environment/) - this can lead to a mismatch in instructions when Anaconda is not the primary tool used.

* Packages available here often lag behind in release schedule from PyPI / pip

* Often one whole version behind on Python (e.g. 3.8 rather than 3.9)

* Often one whole version behind on Python (e.g. 3.9 rather than 3.10)

**Install steps - Anaconda distribution onWindows**

**Install steps - Anaconda distribution onUbuntu**

1.[Download the Linux installer](https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual#)

2. Run the installer, add Python to path if asked

3. Install the build tools:`sudo apt-get install -y build-essential checkinstall`

4. Add additional libraries needed by Python to build:`apt-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libffi-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev`

5. Change into the src directory:`cd /usr/src`

6. Get the latest source from[python.org/downloads/source](https://www.python.org/downloads/source/) and wget it locally, e.g.:`sudo wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.2/Python-3.9.2.tgz`

7. Decompress it (varies by version):`sudo tar xzf Python-3.9.2.tgz`

8. Change into the created directory (varies by version):`cd Python-3.9.2`

6. Get the latest source from[python.org/downloads/source](https://www.python.org/downloads/source/) and wget it locally, e.g.:`sudo wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.10.1/Python-3.10.1.tgz`

7. Decompress it (varies by version):`sudo tar xzf Python-3.10.1.tgz`

8. Change into the created directory (varies by version):`cd Python-3.10.1`

9. Prepare it for compilation:`sudo ./configure --enable-optimizations`

10. Compile it without modifying system Python:`sudo make altinstall`

11. Verify this version was built (varies by version):`python3.9 --version`

12. Use`python3.9` instead of`python` or`python3` commands

13. Consider creating an[alias](https://www.howtogeek.com/73768/how-to-use-aliases-to-customize-ubuntu-commands/) of python3.9 to python in your shell profile.

11. Verify this version was built (varies by version):`python3.10 --version`

12. Use`python3.10` instead of`python` or`python3` commands

13. Consider creating an[alias](https://www.howtogeek.com/73768/how-to-use-aliases-to-customize-ubuntu-commands/) of`python3.10` to`python` in your shell profile.

There is a[nice write up of this procedure over here](https://towardsdatascience.com/building-python-from-source-on-ubuntu-20-04-2ed29eec152b).

If you find a problem or have a suggestion to make this page better, please visit the GitHub repository here. Note that this is not intended for tech support but rather for genuine, broadly applicable improvements to the instructions: