Install request

[Oscar Benjamin]

On 6 April 2016 at 05:08, Rustom Mody <rustompmody at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 4:34:11 AM UTC+5:30, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> On Wed, 6 Apr 2016 02:52 am, Rustom Mody wrote:
>>
>> > On Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 9:49:58 PM UTC+5:30, Oscar Benjamin wrote:
>> >> Another possibility to improve this situation would be to make a page
>> >> on the wiki that actually explains the known problems (and fixes) for
>> >> 3.5 on Windows.
>> >
>> > +10 on that one
>> > ie When a question becomes a FAQ just put it there
>>
>>
>> Would somebody who knows Windows actually do this and then post the link
>> here please?
>
> Even if some windows-knower replies to this mail, someone else can wikify and
> put up
>
> Data needed:
> Which windows version.
> What error message
> What action to do

So I'm not a Windows user but it would be good for someone who is to
put up a full step-by-step (with screenshots) explanation of running
the python.org installer on Windows and then launching Python (by
running IDLE and/or from the terminal). One of the problems we're
having with some of the questions about this is that it isn't even
clear whether someone reporting these problems is referring to the
installer or to running Python or IDLE or what because they don't
understand enough about what's going on to answer those questions:
some pictures would really help with that.

The problems off the top of my head that have come up on this list are:

Python 3.5 will not work with Windows XP: install Python 3.4 or
upgrade to a newer version of Windows (or some other OS). As of 3.5.1
I think the installer should explain the problem but I'm not sure.

Python 3.5 is compiled with VS2015 and so uses the new Windows 10 ucrt
runtime. This should mean that it works immediately on Windows 10 (or
higher?) but that for previous versions of Windows this will give an
error "api-ms-win-crt-runtime.dll not found" or something. Explanation
and downloads here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2999226

The next problem that occurs is the "modify, repair, or uninstall"
one. This is a messagebox that is presented to a user possibly during
installation or when trying to run Python after installation. This
problem has been reported many times and AFAIR it's always Windows and
Python 3.5. No solution is known to this problem (most of the users
reporting it have not followed up after their initial post which may
be related to the way posters on the list reply to them) and I don't
know if it has been reported on the tracker.

There is one other which is the "error 0x823408239" (can't remember
the exact hex) which is possibly due to a corrupt download or to some
problem with temporary files. Apparently renaming some temp files
folder can fix this problem but not sure. Again this problem seems to
be exclusive to Windows and 3.5 and not sure if it's reported to the
tracker.

--
Oscar