WinPython_Title

The easiest way to run Python, Spyder with SciPy and friends on any Windows PC, without installing anything!

Since September 2014, WinPython is hosted at http://winpython.github.io/ . See old pages for previous version of the project.

New project development is at github/winpython, with documentation (wiki) and tickets, the downloads page is currently on Sourceforge, the Discussion group (subscribe) on Google Groups.

Releases

New Releases are here

Released on April 2014:

Released on February 2014: WinPython 2.7.6.3 32bit/64bit, WinPython 3.3.3.3 32bit/64bit

Released on December 2013: : WinPython 2.7.6.2 32bit/64bit, WinPython 3.3.3.2 32bit/64bit

Overview

WinPython is a free open-source portable distribution of the Python programming language for Windows XP/7/8, designed for scientists, supporting both 32bit and 64bit versions of Python 2 and Python 3.

WinPython_Launchers

It is a full-featured (see what's inside WinPython 2.7 or WinPython 3.3) Python-based scientific environment:

  • Designed for scientists (thanks to the integrated libraries NumPySciPy, Matplotlib, guiqwt, etc.):
    • Regular scientific users: interactive data processing and visualization using Python with Spyder
    • Advanced scientific users and software developers: Python applications development with Spyder, version control with Mercurial and other development tools (like gettext, etc.)
  • Portable: preconfigured, it should run out of the box on any machine under Windows (without any requirement) and the folder containing WinPython can be moved to any location (local, network or removable drive) with most of the application settings
  • Flexible: one can install (or should I write "use" as it's portable) as many WinPython versions as necessary (like isolated and self-consistent environments), even if those versions are running different versions of Python (2.7, 3.3) or different architectures (32bit or 64bit) on the same machine
  • Customizable:
    • The integrated package manager (wppm, as WinPython Package Manager) helps installing, uninstalling or upgrading Python packages (see WPPM wiki page for more details on supported package formats)
    • As WPPM may not support some packages, it's also possible to install or upgrade packages using easy_install or pip from the WinPython command prompt
    • A configuration file allows to set environment variables at runtime

WinPython vs. Python(x,y): WinPython is not an attempt to replace Python(x,y), this is just something different (see motivation and concept): more flexible, easier to maintain, movable and less invasive for the OS, but certainly less user-friendly, with less packages/contents and without any integration to Windows explorer.

WinPython_Small_Logos

Portable or not, the choice is yours!

WinPython is a portable application, so the user should not expect any integration into Windows explorer during installation. However, the WinPython Control Panel allows to "register" your distribution to Windows (see screenshot below).

WinPython_Register

Registering your WinPython installation will:

  • associate file extensions .py, .pyc and .pyo to Python interpreter
  • register Python icons in Windows explorer
  • add context menu entries Edit with IDLE and Edit with Spyder for .py files
  • register WinPython as a standard Python distribution (standard Python Windows installers will see WinPython in Windows registry)
That is exactly what the official Python installer would do to your machine: in other words, you can have it both ways!

© Copyright 2009-2013, Pierre Raybaut