# Python for Windows - docs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Python Help\ **Created:** [April 19, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164 "2022-04-19T17:09:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bsammon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bsammon](https://discuss.python.org/u/bsammon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/1 "2022-04-19T17:09:34Z")
I’m wanting to install Python on Windows. My previous experience (a fair amount) has ben entirely on Linux. I’d like to start by reading some (online) starter documentation for Python on Windows. Is there any good documentation that you can recommend? ---
**Author:** ![rob42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/rob42/32/8218_2.png) [@rob42](https://discuss.python.org/u/rob42)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/2 "2022-04-19T17:17:35Z")
Hi and welcome. For any OS, there’s no better place to start (IMHO) than [python.org](http://python.org) ---
**Author:** ![TobiasHT](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/tobiasht/32/23304_2.png) [@TobiasHT](https://discuss.python.org/u/TobiasHT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/3 "2022-04-19T17:19:06Z")
I don’t think there’s a major difference between python on Linux and Python on windows. You can install python on windows from either the Windows app store or [python.org](http://python.org). For the documentation, you can just Google python documentation and you’ll get what you’re searching for. I think python on windows also comes with the compressed HTML documentation or something like that. So you don’t have to look far for the documentation. ---
**Author:** ![bsammon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bsammon](https://discuss.python.org/u/bsammon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/4 "2022-04-19T18:47:18Z")
Okay… I’ve looked around python .org a fair bit, and I didn’t find anything that was answering the questions that were coming to me. I suspect my questions are fairly basic, and probably have been asked many times before, hence my hope that there was a good document that I hadn’t found yet that had an answer to them. The first example of a basic question that I figured was already answered somewhere: Which file do I want to download from [Python Releases for Windows | Python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/) ? I understand the 32bit-vs-64bit part and the 3.9-vs-3.10-vs-3.11 part, but I’d love to read a little about the difference between the embeddable package and the installer downloads. ---
**Author:** ![bsammon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bsammon](https://discuss.python.org/u/bsammon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/5 "2022-04-19T18:50:23Z")
Also, a paragraph (or maybe just a sentence) about whether administrator priviledges are required, or a special procedure for installing without administrator priveleges, would be useful. ---
**Author:** ![rob42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/rob42/32/8218_2.png) [@rob42](https://discuss.python.org/u/rob42)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 6:58pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/6 "2022-04-19T18:58:43Z")
Use whichever of the two installers you like, unless you’re planning on copying the installer to some machine that has no internet access and running it there, in which case you should use the executable installer. ---
**Author:** ![rob42](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/rob42/32/8218_2.png) [@rob42](https://discuss.python.org/u/rob42)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/7 "2022-04-19T19:00:11Z")
If you need admin privileges, your OS will ask for the admin password, just like with Linux. ---
**Author:** ![jeanas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/jeanas/32/8115_2.png) [@jeanas](https://discuss.python.org/u/jeanas)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/8 "2022-04-19T19:02:01Z")
Not really ‘starter documentation’ perhaps, but the official docs have a lot of details about usage on Windows. [https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html](https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html) ---
**Author:** ![eryksun](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/eryksun/32/697_2.png) [@eryksun](https://discuss.python.org/u/eryksun)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/9 "2022-04-19T20:09:40Z")
> [@bsammon](#): > > The first example of a basic question that I figured was already answered somewhere: > Which file do I want to download from [Python Releases for Windows | Python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/) ? I understand the 32bit-vs-64bit part and the 3.9-vs-3.10-vs-3.11 part, but I’d love to read a little about the difference between the embeddable package and the installer downloads. The embeddable package is intended for embedding Python in another application. This distribution includes a configuration file named “python3\.\_pth” that isolates the interpreter from the environment and registry settings and by default does not import the `site` module. Also, the standard library in the embeddable package is pre-compiled (i.e. “.pyc” files) and zipped up in a single file named “python3\.zip”. If you’re not embedding Python in another application for redistribution, then you should install via the full executable installer or the Microsoft store package. There are also nuget packages available for continuous integration build systems. > a paragraph (or maybe just a sentence) about whether administrator priviledges are required If any component of the installation is configured to be installed for all users, then you may be prompted for consent or credentials if the installer doesn’t already have administrator access. By default, a full installation is just for the current user, except I think the py launcher installs for all users by default. Anyway, default notwithstanding, if the launcher isn’t already installed for all users, you have the option to install it just for the current user. ---
**Author:** ![bsammon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bsammon](https://discuss.python.org/u/bsammon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/10 "2022-04-19T21:02:40Z")
> [@jeanas](#): > > Not really ‘starter documentation’ perhaps, but the official docs have a lot of details about usage on Windows. > > [4. Using Python on Windows — Python 3.12.1 documentation](https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html) Yes! This is the document I was hoping to find. In the very first section, it describes the various choices that are available on the download page. (Oddly, in the second section (4.1.1), it seems to describe a rather different set of choices, mentioning a “web installer” and a “full installer” that I don’t see listed on the download page, and not mentioning the embeddable package (which comes back in section 4.4) ) It also lists (briefly) some alternatives like ActivePython and Anaconda, which I was wondering about. ---
**Author:** ![steven.daprano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/steven.daprano/32/1083_2.png) [@steven.daprano](https://discuss.python.org/u/steven.daprano)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/11 "2022-04-19T23:54:43Z")
Are you planning on installing Python? Then you want the installer. Are you embedding the Python interpreter inside another application written in C? Then you want the embeddable package. The embeddable package is for the specialised use of application developers who need to include a Python interpreter in their application, and control exactly what version and libraries are included. It is **not** for general use to install Python on your machine and use it. > **[Using CPython's Embeddable Zip File](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/cpython-embeddable-zip-file/)** > > On the download page for CPython 3.5.1, you’ll see a wide range of options. Not all of these are well explained, especially for Windows users who have seven (seven!) choices. Let me restructure the Windows items into a more feature-focused table: ... When I have installed Python on Windows, I just used the app store. ---
**Author:** ![steven.daprano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/steven.daprano/32/1083_2.png) [@steven.daprano](https://discuss.python.org/u/steven.daprano)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-for-windows-docs/15164/12 "2022-04-20T00:06:05Z")
Sounds like the documentation is out of date. You should raise an issue on the bug tracker: > **[Issues · python/cpython](https://github.com/python/cpython/issues)** > > The Python programming language. Contribute to python/cpython development by creating an account on GitHub.