Not sure if I installed correctly

Hi,

I am new to python and not the smartest person when it comes to computers, so I will try my best to explain my problem. I have downloaded and installed the newest version of python onto my computer, and the file location that it was installed to does not exist when I look it up on my computer. I have been watching videos online on how to use python, and I keep on seeing from the videos that when they are using python, their file location shows up on the python notepad and can load and open up different files that they have created. I am trying to use sublime text and when I create something in it, I cannot open it up on python to make sure that it is running correctly. I am unsure of where something went wrong, and I have tried looking it up online, but I can’t find anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

How did you download Python?

Where did you download it from?

What operating system are you using? (Windows, Mac, Linux? What version?)

How do you know that Python isn’t installed? Tell us step by step what
you tried, and what happened.

I downloaded it from python.org for windows 10, 64 bit. When it came to the screen to choose “install now”, at the bottom of it, I checked off both boxes for installing python launcher and adding python to PATH. Everything was installed after that and when I went back to check to make sure it was running, I typed the exact location of where it was installed on my computer, and I got the message “No results found”. I tried downloading it from the Microsoft Store, but I was having other, unrelated issues with that.

I hope that helps a little bit more.

Hi Nick,

We’re not all Windows users here, so we need some more detail:

“Everything was installed after that”

How do you know it was installed?

“I typed the exact location of where it was installed on my computer”

What did you type? Where did you type it?

What happens if you use the Start Menu and just enter “python”?

If you create a file called “test.py” and double-click it, what happens?

If you use the Windows find/search command to search for “python.exe”,
what happens?

In Windows, Python defaults to installing just for the current user in the user’s program files directory. To open this directory in the graphical shell (e.g. File Explorer or the Win+R dialog), use the virtual path “shell:UserProgramFiles” (case insensitive). From a command-line shell that has a start command (e.g. CMD, PowerShell), use start shell:UserProgramFiles.

A per-user installation of 64-bit Python 3.10 defaults to the subdirectory “Python\Python310”. This can be opened directly using the virtual path “shell:UserProgramFiles\Python\Python310”, if it exists. For 32-bit Python, by default the suffix “-32” is appended to the directory name, e.g. “shell:UserProgramFiles\Python\Python310-32”.


Additional details:

The location of the current user’s programs directory defaults to a directory named “Programs” in the user’s local application data directory. In the graphical shell, the local application data directory of the current user is “shell:Local AppData”, for which the fully-qualified filesystem path is set in the LOCALAPPDATA environment variable. For example, the default file path of the current user’s programs directory is "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs". Bear in mind that it can be relocated from the default location, so it’s more reliable to use the virtual path “shell:UserProgramFiles”.

The user’s local application data directory is in the user’s profile directory at "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local". The directory "%USERPROFILE%\AppData" is a hidden directory. By default, File Explorer doesn’t show hidden items, but this doesn’t prevent accessing the path directly in the address bar, e.g. “C:\Users\Nick\AppData”.