## USING PYTHON ON WINDOWS 

This document aims to give an overview of Windows-specific behaviour you should know about when using Python on Microsoft Windows. 

Unlike most Unix systems and services, Windows does not include a system supported installation of Python. To make Python available, the CPython team has compiled Windows installers (MSI packages) with every release for many years. These installers are primarily intended to add a per-user installation of Python, with the core interpreter and library being used by a single user. The installer is also able to install for all users of a single machine, and a separate ZIP file is available for application-local distributions. 

As specified in PEP 11 , a Python release only supports a Windows platform while Microsoft considers the platform under extended support. This means that Python 3.9 supports Windows 8.1 and newer. If you require Windows 7 support, please install Python 3.8. 

There are a number of different installers available for Windows, each with certain benefits and downsides. 

The full installer contains all components and is the best option for developers using Python for any kind of project. 

The Microsoft Store package is a simple installation of Python that is suitable for running scripts and packages, and us- ing IDLE or other development environments. It requires Windows 10, but can be safely installed without corrupting other programs. It also provides many convenient commands for launching Python and its tools. 

The nuget.org packages are lightweight installations intended for continuous integration systems. It can be used to build Python packages or run scripts, but is not updateable and has no user interface tools. 

The embeddable package is a minimal package of Python suitable for embedding into a larger application. 

## 3.1 The full installer 

## 3.1.1 Installation steps 

Four Python 3.9 installers are available for download - two each for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the interpreter. The web installer is a small initial download, and it will automatically download the required components as neces- sary. The offline installer includes the components necessary for a default installation and only requires an internet connection for optional features. See Installing Without Downloading for other ways to avoid downloading during installation. 

After starting the installer, one of two options may be selected: 

