python not recognized in Windows CMD even after adding to PATH

Question

I'm trying to -learn to write and- run Python scripts on my Windows 7 64 bit machine. I installed Python in C:/Python34, and I added this to my Windows' PATH variable :

C:\Python34; C:\Python34\python.exe

(the second one is probably meaningless but I tried) and still I get this error in Windows command line :

C:\Users\me>python test.py
'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

So how do I truly install Python on my Windows x64 machine ?

Answer 1

This might be trivial, but have you tried closing your command line window and opening a new one? This is supposed to reload all the environment variables. Try typing

echo %PATH%

into the command prompt and see if you can find your Python directory there.

Also, the second part of your addition to the PATH environment variable is indeed unnecessary.

Answer 2

I had the same problem: python not being recognized, with python in the path which was was not truncated.

Following the comment of eryksun in yossim's answer:

Also, if you installed for all users you should have %SystemRoot%\py.exe, which >is typically C:\Windows\py.exe. So without setting Python's directory in PATH >you can simply run py to start Python; if 2.x is installed use py -3 since >Python 2 is the default. – eryksun

I tried to use py instead of python and it worked. Meaning: python setup.py build -> does NOT work. py setup.py build -> does work. Hope it helps