To install Python using the Microsoft Store: We only recommend this if you are a more advanced Python programmer with a specific reason for choosing an alternative implementation.

For some advanced scenarios (like needing to access/modify Python's installed files, make copies of binaries, or use Python DLLs directly), you may want to consider downloading a specific Python release directly from or consider installing an alternative, such as Anaconda, Jython, PyPy, WinPython, IronPython, etc. If you're brand new to Python, try our guide: Get started using Python on Windows for beginners. Find a walkthrough in our guide: Get started using Python for web development on Windows. If you are using Python for web development on Windows, we recommend a different setup using the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Installing via the Microsoft Store uses the basic Python3 interpreter, but handles set up of your PATH settings for the current user (avoiding the need for admin access), in addition to providing automatic updates. When using Python to write scripts that perform file system operations, we recommend you install Python from the Microsoft Store. For Windows-specific operations, check out ctypes, a C-compatible foreign function library for Python, winreg, functions exposing the Windows registry API to Python, and Python/WinRT, enabling access Windows Runtime APIs from Python. This article will cover setting up your environment to use some of the helpful libraries in Python that can automate tasks across platforms, like searching your file system, accessing the internet, parsing file types, etc., from a Windows-centered approach.

Python read ms project files