Multiple Python Installations of the same python version on a single computer

Question

I want to install the new Python 2.7 on my Windows XP 32bit PC.

having CDO (thats OCD with initials sorted in alphabetical order) I want to install it multiple times on the same computer (to different TARGETDIRs).

how do i do that ? double clicking on the installer, or running msiexec multiple times did not work for me

Coincidentally, I noticed that the windows python installation does not ask me if I want to add a Start Menu option. I want my installations of python not to show up on the Start Menu. How do I do that?

be well

Answer 1

If I understand correctly you want multiple independent copies of Python 2.7 running on Windows. I assume that is so you can install just the packages you need for each project and not have different projects fighting over conflicting versions.

Try using virtualenv (http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv). You install Python once, then whenever you need a new copy you run virtualenv.py and it effectively gives you a clean environment with an activate script (activate.bat on Windows) that makes that environment the current one.

Having said all that, I've only used virtualenv on Linux so I don't know how well it works on Windows, but it certainly claims to work on Windows so give it a go.

Edit: For running Python scripts on machines without having to worry whether or not it is already there, the usual solution is to use py2exe (http://www.py2exe.org/). That bundles your application and all libraries together with Python in a single standalone file which can be run without any installation.

Answer 2

Based on one of your comments, it looks like you don't actually need to install it, you just need it on the computer so your program can run. In that case you can take a page from Dropbox's book and include the interpreter, DLL, and standard library in one of your directories, and just use it from there.