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I've been going with a basic Python3.4 install that I've been installing many modules into for over the past month but have reached a point where pip is coming up short and I'm going to just install the full Anaconda on my system to go deeper into bokeh-server stuff.

I get a popup during the Windows 64bit installer (Anaconda3-2.3.0-Windows-x86_64.exe) saying

A version of Python 3.4 (64-bit) is already at C:\Python34\ We recommend that if you want Anaconda registered as your system Python, you unregister this Python first. If you really know this is what you want, click OK, otherwise click cancel to continue. enter image description here

Didn't find much documentation on this subject, and I'm not really sure how to "unregister" that installation of Python apart from uninstalling it entirely from Windows which I imagine would accomplish such a thing. Is this basically telling me to check how my Python Launcher for Windows is setup after the Anaconda installation? I'm completely unfamiliar with this notion of python system registration? Is that just a round about warning about which python version takes precedence on the system path, or which installation holds the file associations?

jxramos
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  • Do you really need to replace your Python with Anaconda's one? You can just don't register new one as a default one. – nightuser Aug 20 '15 at 00:01
  • Also, take a look at [this question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17872234/how-to-add-python-to-windows-registry). – nightuser Aug 20 '15 at 00:02
  • aha, so this is a Windows specific thing then, not something general to Python per se. – jxramos Aug 20 '15 at 21:46

5 Answers5

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The solution is simply to uninstall python (for example, run the original python installer and select the uninstall option). The python key in the windows registry will be removed (which is what unregister means in this context).

Quaternion
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Here is a link to a script that will unregister a Python installation (if you haven't come across it already). I personally have not dealt with anything like this. It seems like it should work, but you may have to tinker around with some of the paths in the script to get things to work. The links in @nightuser 's post will also probably fix the issue.

Why not just remove your version of Python? You could do a pip freeze > requirements.txt with your current Python and add them to Anaconda, or create an environment with Anaconda using those packages. Anaconda has greatly decreased the amount of time I spend setting things up.

wgwz
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  • awesome! Didn't know about pip freeze. So it does sound like this registering of python has to do with windows registry and getting it all integrated nicely into the OS. Good stuff, now I know. – jxramos Aug 20 '15 at 21:43
  • No problem! Glad I could be of help. Here is a bit more information on the [requirements file](http://pip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/user_guide.html#requirements-files) that might be useful. And here is more on [creating conda env's](http://conda.pydata.org/docs/using/envs.html#create-an-environment) – wgwz Aug 20 '15 at 22:00
  • It's no longer availible. – Echo9k Sep 29 '21 at 15:12
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    @Echo9k I've fixed the link, though I can't guarantee you it's a clean solution in the year of our lord 2021 ;-) There is a similar script in a [gist](https://gist.github.com/ckolumbus/10117411). Good luck! – wgwz Oct 01 '21 at 21:04
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You are getting that prompt because you have another version already installed the safe way to do this is going to the directory of the existing version and running the uninstaller. Once the previous version is completely uninstalled. You can run the installation as normal it should works!

Kirubel Tadesse
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Here is a solution which is simple, direct but kind of radical. So check your dependency before doing this. Considering go to the Control Panel of your Windows and simply uninstall the version of Python which conflicts with the installation of Anaconda. The newly installed Anaconda will easily replace it.

Prince Chen
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  • This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient [reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation) you will be able to [comment on any post](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/comment); instead, [provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/214173/why-do-i-need-50-reputation-to-comment-what-can-i-do-instead). - [From Review](/review/late-answers/33924951) – xlmaster Mar 04 '23 at 12:37
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enter image description hereYou have already installed python in your environment, so your system can handle your python code. Anaconda can handle your python code as well. If you install Anaconda and expect use python provided by Anaconda, then your system will confuse about assigning the code job. To avoid this confusion, there is always a path to point out which python you want. You can ask your OS to find specific python by changing your environment path in windows OS:

By deleting the python path your Python will be invisible. Changing path is more convenient compared with the uninstall.

If you got a python compiling software like Pycharm, things are different. Pycharm may have python3.6 while your system got python 3.5. You need to delete path in those software or uninstall python specified by those software.

Pycharm

Actually, instead of registering the Anaconda as the system python, you can install it first, then specify your Pycharm and system path to the Anaconda python path. Thus, your Pycharm will use python provided by Anaconda and package & virtual environment you need. I edit this for lots of times because I got Great wall, so I can't close something pop up in my screen(cause it is Blank). And everything is missing if I refresh. This is annoying.

My system path Anaconda3's python36

My system path Anaconda3's python36

Add path in Pycharm

Add path in Pycharm

Or you can't use these packages and Anacon's virtual Environment

Or you can't use these packages and Anacon's virtual Environment

Tina Liu
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  • This comment is off-topic, because it rambles on about PyCharm. The person has native core Python from Python.org installed, not the PyCharm version. Please edit the language in your post to use grammatically-correct English. It is confusing and hard to read with so many grammatical mistakes. – Rich Lysakowski PhD Aug 21 '20 at 02:35