Both Python 2.5.2 and 2.7.2 flop the same way under Win 7

[W. eWatson]

Months ago 2.5.2 stopped functioning on my Win7 PC, so a few days ago I
uninstalled and installed. Same problem. If one right-clicks on a py
file, IDLE is not shown in the menu as Edit with IDLE. After playing
with matters I gave up, and uninstalled 2.5.2 and turned to 2.7.2. Same
results.

If I look at a 2.4 install on my laptop, I get the desired reference to
Edit with IDLE.

My guess is that Win 7 is behind this. If so, it's good-bye Python.

Comments?

 

[spartan.the]

Months ago 2.5.2 stopped functioning on my Win7 PC, so a few days ago I
uninstalled and installed. Same problem. If one right-clicks on a py
file, IDLE is not shown in the menu as Edit with IDLE. After playing
with matters I gave up, and uninstalled 2.5.2 and turned to 2.7.2. Same
results.

If I look at a 2.4 install on my laptop, I get the desired reference to
Edit with IDLE.

My guess is that Win 7 is behind this. If so, it's good-bye Python.

Comments?

I prefer "fail fast" approach too.

If right-click not working on Win7 is your reason to say good bye to
Python then better you do so.

 

[ray]

Months ago 2.5.2 stopped functioning on my Win7 PC, so a few days ago
I uninstalled and installed. Same problem. If one right-clicks on a py
file, IDLE is not shown in the menu as Edit with IDLE. After playing
with matters I gave up, and uninstalled 2.5.2 and turned to 2.7.2.
Same results.

If I look at a 2.4 install on my laptop, I get the desired reference
to Edit with IDLE.

My guess is that Win 7 is behind this. If so, it's good-bye Python.

Comments?

Why not good-bye Windows ? Actually you may want to try Vim, or gVim in
Windows. I think the people who use IDLE is with really good patient.

 

[John Gordon]

Months ago 2.5.2 stopped functioning on my Win7 PC, so a few days ago I
uninstalled and installed. Same problem. If one right-clicks on a py
file, IDLE is not shown in the menu as Edit with IDLE. After playing
with matters I gave up, and uninstalled 2.5.2 and turned to 2.7.2. Same
results.

I'm not sure I'd describe the lack of IDLE in a context menu as
"python not functioning".

If I look at a 2.4 install on my laptop, I get the desired reference to
Edit with IDLE.

My guess is that Win 7 is behind this. If so, it's good-bye Python.

It was working originally, right? So the problem can't really just be
Win 7.

Can you add IDLE manually to the associated applications list?

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

Months ago 2.5.2 stopped functioning on my Win7 PC, so a few days ago I
uninstalled and installed. Same problem. If one right-clicks on a py
file, IDLE is not shown in the menu as Edit with IDLE. After playing
with matters I gave up, and uninstalled 2.5.2 and turned to 2.7.2. Same
results.

I find I get better results when I stop "playing with matters" and start
treating them seriously

If you need help fixing the file associations on your Windows 7 machine,
you'll probably get better advice on a dedicated Windows forum. Or even
by googling for instructions:

https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=how to fix windows 7 file associations

If I look at a 2.4 install on my laptop, I get the desired reference to
Edit with IDLE.

So you're saying that Python is working on one laptop, but not on another
machine?

Okay. Great. What's your point? You have a messed up installation on your
Windows 7 box, and a working installation on your laptop. What would you
like us to do? Commiserate? Laugh? Look into a crystal ball and tell you
what you did wrong?

Can you run Python from the command line? If so, that tells you that
Python is installed and working correctly. If Python is installed, then
it sounds like a matter of getting the file associates fixed in the
registry. Good luck.

My guess is that Win 7 is behind this. If so, it's good-bye Python.

Comments?

Why not good-bye Windows 7?

This being Windows, have you run a virus scan with up to date
definitions? Then run a *second* scan, using a completely different
scanner, because no scanner can catch all viruses? And then run a good
anti-spyware program. All of which will be irrelevant 99 times out of
100, but you could be the 1% ...

 

[W. eWatson]

I'm not sure I'd describe the lack of IDLE in a context menu as
"python not functioning".



It was working originally, right? So the problem can't really just be
Win 7.

Can you add IDLE manually to the associated applications list?

Not successfully. I tried it and pointed to idle.pyw. It gave a Invalid
Win32 app.

 

[W. eWatson]

I'm not sure I'd describe the lack of IDLE in a context menu as
"python not functioning".

Well, yes, and I can run it from the command line.This has been a nagging problem for far too long. I see no reason why a
simple install should make such a difference with the way I get to IDLE.
Maybe few people here like IDLE, but for my minimal needs, it's just fine.

It was working originally, right? So the problem can't really just be
Win 7.

I installed it about April 2010, and it worked for months. I then
stopped using it until around July 2011. It no longer worked in the IDLE
sense.

Who really knows?

Can you add IDLE manually to the associated applications list?

Tried that by sending it directly to idle.pyw, but then trying to get
there through the Edit with menu caused a "invalid Win32 app."

 

[Chris Angelico]

I installed it [Windows 7] about April 2010, and it worked for months. I then stopped
using it until around July 2011. It no longer worked in the IDLE sense.

Microsoft have broken things in many Windowses, and it's often hard to
figure out whether the fault is with the Windows version or with the
application. MS several times went to ridiculous effort to try to
ensure that broken programs that ran under version X would still run
under version Y, to the extent of being bug-for-bug compatible.

If you're having issues, grab a spare computer, throw Linux on it (I
recommend Ubuntu or Debian, others will have other preferred distros),
and see if the issues remain. Or if you're having trouble with the
GUI, try things from the command line (Windows's command interpreter
is pretty weak compared to bash, but it's plenty powerful enough).

ChrisA

 

[spartan.the]

Well, yes, and I can run it from the command line.


This has been a nagging problem for far too long. I see no reason why a
simple install should make such a difference with the way I get to IDLE.
Maybe few people here like IDLE, but for my minimal needs, it's just fine..




I installed it about April 2010, and it worked for months. I then
stopped using it until around July 2011. It no longer worked in the IDLE
sense.

Who really knows?




Tried that by sending it directly to idle.pyw, but then trying to get
there through the Edit with menu caused a "invalid Win32 app."

idle.pyw is not executable in Windows, but you can right-click it,
open, browse to pythonw.exe. Then it should work.

 

[MRAB]

Well, yes, and I can run it from the command line.
This has been a nagging problem for far too long. I see no reason why a
simple install should make such a difference with the way I get to IDLE.
Maybe few people here like IDLE, but for my minimal needs, it's just fine.

I installed it about April 2010, and it worked for months. I then
stopped using it until around July 2011. It no longer worked in the IDLE
sense.

Who really knows?

Tried that by sending it directly to idle.pyw, but then trying to get
there through the Edit with menu caused a "invalid Win32 app."

Are you trying to associate .pyw with idle.pyw instead of with
pythonw.exe?

 

[Terry Reedy]

Months ago 2.5.2 stopped functioning on my Win7 PC, so a few days ago I
uninstalled and installed. Same problem. If one right-clicks on a py
file, IDLE is not shown in the menu as Edit with IDLE. After playing
with matters I gave up, and uninstalled 2.5.2 and turned to 2.7.2. Same
results.

If I look at a 2.4 install on my laptop, I get the desired reference to
Edit with IDLE.

My guess is that Win 7 is behind this. If so, it's good-bye Python.

I installed 3.3.2 on a new Win 7 machine and Edit with IDLE works fine.
However, I almost never use that with Explorer to open files. I have
IDLE pinned to the task bar so it is one click to start. If I edit a
file, I want to run it, so I want a shell window open anyway. I usually
open files to edit with the first three entries under the File menu: New
File, Open, or Recent Files. Once I open a file in a particular
directory (usually with Recent Files), Open initially looks for files in
the same directory, which is usually what I want. So say hello again to
Python, especially Python 3.

 

[W. eWatson]

idle.pyw is not executable in Windows, but you can right-click it,
open, browse to pythonw.exe. Then it should work.

right-click on junk.py gives me a menu. I select Open with, and ...
hmmm, whoops, in the latest install, 2.7.2, I did not give it access to
idle.pyw.

My mistake above. I was talking about the previous 2.5.2 of install in
Win7. Where I'm at is 2.7.2 now. However, I still find in very odd there
is no Edit with IDLE when I right-click on junk.py. That's the way it
worked on 2.5.2 on my XP and earlier, 2010, on Win7. Downright frustrating.

 

[W. eWatson]

Are you trying to associate .pyw with idle.pyw instead of with
pythonw.exe?

What does pythonw.exe do for me? I would think all associations would be
correct after an install.

The single thing I do not understand is why in my latest install of
2.5.2 and 2.7.2 (2.5.2 was uninstalled before going to 2.7.2) on Win7
that why a right-click on a py file does not show as a choice is "Edit
with IDLE", as it does on my XP PC and my 2010 install of 2.5.2 on this
Win 7 PC. To me that signals that something is wrong.

 

[W. eWatson]

I installed 3.3.2 on a new Win 7 machine and Edit with IDLE works fine.
However, I almost never use that with Explorer to open files. I have
IDLE pinned to the task bar so it is one click to start. If I edit a
file, I want to run it, so I want a shell window open anyway. I usually
open files to edit with the first three entries under the File menu: New
File, Open, or Recent Files. Once I open a file in a particular
directory (usually with Recent Files), Open initially looks for files in
the same directory, which is usually what I want. So say hello again to
Python, especially Python 3.

I have not found any successful way to get to IDLE. It's on on the
right-click of a py menu, and, if I go the ...lib/idle.pyw, it fails
with a "invalid Win32 app" msg.

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

I have not found any successful way to get to IDLE. It's on on the
right-click of a py menu, and, if I go the ...lib/idle.pyw, it fails
with a "invalid Win32 app" msg.

If you associate .pyw files with pythonw.exe, and then open idle.pyw,
does it work?

Failing that, go to your laptop where the associations are right, and see
what they are, then duplicate the settings on your Windows 7 machine.

 

[Martin P. Hellwig]

On 17/11/2011 23:54, W. eWatson wrote:

My mistake above. I was talking about the previous 2.5.2 of install in
Win7. Where I'm at is 2.7.2 now. However, I still find in very odd there
is no Edit with IDLE when I right-click on junk.py. That's the way it
worked on 2.5.2 on my XP and earlier, 2010, on Win7. Downright frustrating.

Well if I was still a windows administrator and you would be one of my
users, I would first make sure that your profile or windows installation
is not pooped as it definitively smells like that.

After being reassured that this is not the case I would then search the
interwebs for something like "extending right click context menu".

Probably hitting something like this:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ext-menu/5ea7104f-2213-41b9-9933-83f25da086d1

And after that searching where this 'idle' you speak of is actually
located, probably finding something like this:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...r-without-using-the-shortcut-on-windows-vista

Then it rest me to combine them both, after promising myself not to
install one version of a particular program 'for all users' and then
'updating' for 'only me' as this can screw up the default settings quite
badly.

But hey I haven't been a win admin since I switched over to FreeBSD
years and years ago. I find it immensely reassuring that the problems I
encounter on my systems are all my fault, well actually that is just the
same as with windows, just less obvious there.

Luckily I am no longer an administrator either as I couldn't stand it
anymore when users spill their frustrations, although perfectly
understandable, unto those who are actually willing to help.

Something to do with attitude or so, speaking if which, I do apologize
for my own attitude, but given the choice of just ignoring you or lacing
my post with patronization I though that the latter one was the least
bad of them two.

 

[alex23]

Comments?

Are you using the vanilla installer or ActiveState's ActivePython? I
find the latter integrates better with Windows.

Also, out of curiousity, 32 or 64 bit Windows?

 

[Dave Angel]

On 11/17/2011 9:39 AM, John Gordon wrote:

Tried that by sending it directly to idle.pyw, but then trying to get
there through the Edit with menu caused a "invalid Win32 app."

You've been told repeatedly that building an association to idle.pyw is
useless. It must be to something Windows understands, such as .exe, or
..bat (or several other extensions, as I said in an earlier message) So
why waste our time telling us yet again that it doesn't work?

 

[W. eWatson]

You've been told repeatedly that building an association to idle.pyw is
useless. It must be to something Windows understands, such as .exe, or
.bat (or several other extensions, as I said in an earlier message) So
why waste our time telling us yet again that it doesn't work?

Because some people think that's a solution, and ask. It's not. It
leads to an error message.

 

[W. eWatson]

If you associate .pyw files with pythonw.exe, and then open idle.pyw,
does it work?

Failing that, go to your laptop where the associations are right, and see
what they are, then duplicate the settings on your Windows 7 machine.

Sounds like a good idea except I've not used associations in so long
under XP, I have no idea where to start. Control Panel. My Computer Tools?