Can I install Python 3.x and 2.x on the same Windows computer?

The official solution for coexistence seems to be the Python Launcher for Windows, PEP 397 which was included in Python 3.3.0. Installing the release dumps py.exe and pyw.exe launchers into %SYSTEMROOT% (C:\Windows) which is then associated with py and pyw scripts, respectively.

In order to use the new launcher (without manually setting up your own associations to it), leave the "Register Extensions" option enabled. I'm not quite sure why, but on my machine it left Py 2.7 as the "default" (of the launcher).

Running scripts by calling them directly from the command line will route them through the launcher and parse the shebang (if it exists). You can also explicitly call the launcher and use switches: py -3 mypy2script.py.

All manner of shebangs seem to work

• #!C:\Python33\python.exe
• #!python3
• #!/usr/bin/env python3

as well as wanton abuses

• #! notepad.exe

Here's my setup:

1. Install both Python 2.7 and 3.4 with the windows installers.
2. Go to C:\Python34 (the default install path) and change python.exe to python3.exe
3. Edit your environment variables to include C:\Python27\;C:\Python27\Scripts\;C:\Python34\;C:\Python34\Scripts\;

Now in command line you can use python for 2.7 and python3 for 3.4.

From version 3.3 Python introduced Launcher for Windows utility https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html#python-launcher-for-windows.

So to be able to use multiple versions of Python:

1. install Python 2.x (x is any version you need)
2. install Python 3.x (x is any version you need also you have to have one version 3.x >= 3.3)
3. open Command Prompt
4. type py -2.x to launch Python 2.x
5. type py -3.x to launch Python 3.x