How to install Python support in Visual Studio on Windows

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac Visual Studio Code

To install Python support for Visual Studio (also known as Python Tools for Visual Studio or PTVS), follow the instructions in the section that matches your version of Visual Studio:

-Visual Studio 2022

• Visual Studio 2019

To quickly test Python support after following the installation steps, open the Python Interactive window by pressing Alt+I and entering 2+2. If you don't see the output of 4, recheck your steps.

Tip

The Python workload includes the helpful Cookiecutter extension that provides a graphical user interface to discover templates, input template options, and create projects and files. For details, see Use Cookiecutter.

Note

Python support isn't presently available in Visual Studio for Mac, but is available on Mac and Linux through Visual Studio Code. See questions and answers.

Visual Studio 2022

Visual Studio 2019

1. Download and run the latest Visual Studio installer. If you have Visual Studio installed already, run the Visual Studio Installer, select the Modify option (see Modify Visual Studio) and go to step 2.

   Install Visual Studio 2022 Community

   Tip

   The Community edition is for individual developers, classroom learning, academic research, and open source development. For other users, install Visual Studio 2022 Professional or Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise

   Install Visual Studio 2019 Community

   Tip

   The Community edition is for individual developers, classroom learning, academic research, and open source development. For other uses, install Visual Studio 2019 Professional or Visual Studio 2019 Enterprise.

2. The Visual Studio installer provides you a list of workloads that are groups of related options for specific development areas. For Python, select the Python development workload.

   Optional: if you're working with data science, also consider the Data science and analytical applications workload. This workload includes support for the Python, R, and F# languages. For more information, see Data science and analytical applications workload.

   .

3. On the right side of the installer, choose other options if you want. Skip this step to accept the default options.

   

   

Option	Description
Python distributions	Choose any combination of the available options, such as 32-bit and 64-bit variants of the Python 2, Python 3, Miniconda, Anaconda2, and Anaconda3 distributions that you plan to work with. Each includes the distribution's interpreter, runtime, and libraries. Anaconda, specifically, is an open data science platform that includes a wide range of pre-installed packages. (You can return to the Visual Studio installer at any time to add or remove distributions.) Note: If you've installed a distribution outside of the Visual Studio installer, there's no need to check the equivalent option here. Visual Studio automatically detects existing Python installations. See The Python Environments window. Also, if a newer version of Python is available than what's shown in the installer, you can install that version separately and Visual Studio will detect it.
Cookiecutter template support	Installs the Cookiecutter graphical UI to discover templates, input template options, and create projects and files. See Use the Cookiecutter extension.
Python web support	Installs tools for web development including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript editing support, along with templates for projects using the Bottle, Flask, and Django frameworks. See Python web project templates.
Python native development tools	Installs the C++ compiler and other necessary components to develop native extensions for Python. See Create a C++ extension for Python. Also install the Desktop development with C++ workload for full C++ support.

After installation, the installer provides options to modify, launch, repair, or uninstall Visual Studio. The Modify button changes to Update when updates to Visual Studio are available for any installed components. (The Modify option is then available on the drop-down menu.) You can also launch Visual Studio and the installer from the Windows Start menu by searching on "Visual Studio".

Troubleshooting

To fix problems while installing or running Python in Visual Studio, try the following steps:

• Determine whether the same error occurs using the Python CLI, that is, running python.exe from a command prompt.
• Use the Repair option in the Visual Studio installer.
• Repair or reinstall Python through Settings > Apps & features in Windows.

Example error: Failed to start interactive process: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): Unknown error (0xc0000135) at Microsoft.PythonTools.Repl.PythonInteractiveEvaluator.d__43.MoveNext().

You may see errors when attempting to install or update Python itself, such as PackageId:CPython39.Exe.x64;PackageAction:DownloadPackage;ReturnCode:0x80070193. These errors occur when the download or install of Python from https://python.org fails. This could be due to network timeouts, corporate firewall policy, VPN configuration, anti-virus, or other problems. See if a retry helps, and if not, see if you can download the Python runtime directly from https://python.org and install it manually.

Install locations

By default, the Python support installs for all users on a computer.

For Visual Studio 2022, the Python workload installs in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio\<VS_version>\<VS_edition>Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\Python where <VS_version> is 2022 and <VS_edition> is Community, Professional, or Enterprise.

By default, the Python support installs for all users on a computer.

For Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2017, the Python workload installs in %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\<VS_version>\<VS_edition>Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\Python where <VS_version> is 2019 or 2017 and <VS_edition> is Community, Professional, or Enterprise.