Setup OctoPrint on Windows Server - Python 3

RE. Setup OctoPrint on Windows Server
and perhaps
How to install octoprint 1.4.0 with python 3

I wanted to be sure that I was using the correct version of Python on my PC installation.
I'm sure some of these step are unnecessary but

  1. Uninstall Python 2
  2. Install Python 3
  3. reboot - essential to use new path
  4. Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019
  5. reboot again - to be sure, to be sure
  6. follow Gina's instructions from 3 onwards.

Your instructions here feel like they're going to confuse others.

  • "Uninstall Python 2" could mean many things, as well as "Install Python 3". Where/how?
  • Just exiting out of a cmd.exe session and starting a new one should get you an updated PATH variable
1 Like

I rather foolishly gave the wrong URL, it should be
https://community.octoprint.org/t/setting-up-octoprint-on-windows/383

You'd think but not so. Maybe because the Python path is in System variables? I suspect a logout/login would do the same thing but why not be sure?

"Uninstall Python 2" not wishing to be argumentative but I'd assume (quite possibly incorrectly) that anybody using a Windows machine, would know how to uninstall a program.

"Your instructions here feel like they're going to confuse others." I'm absolutly sure you are correct. see Gina's reply to John_Mc in the corrected thread.

For python-based programs, the rule is to create a virtual environment, activate that and then install your program there. OctoPrint does this into an ~/oprint Python 2.7 virtual environment.

And then of course, Python 2.7 might be installed globally as well as into other virtual environments for other python-based programs.

So saying "uninstall python 2" might mean "uninstall the global version of python 2" (which is probably a bad idea) or "uninstall the virtual environment for OctoPrint" which is what might be recommended here.

On forums I try not to be disagreeable but could it be you're overthinking this, to a Windows person uninstall means Control panel/Programs and features, double click on the offending item.

Anyway I've obviously done something dim because now nearly all plugins are flagged as incompatible.

Don't worry, only 80% of the plugins aren't Python 3—compatible yet. (Basically, this is the starting gun for plugin authors to revisit their plugins, install a Python 3 platform, test their code and resubmit them.)