Set up a Windows environment

We recommend using WinPython to easily set up a compatible Python environment on Windows. Here is a quick install guide.

1. Download and install WinPython 3.3. Choose 64bit if you have a recent PC with at least 4GB of RAM, or 32bit otherwise. By default, the install is portable, i.e., it will only extract itself into a folder and leave your system otherwise untouched.
2. Download the following modules pre-compiled or from PyPI:
   • rdflib 4.1.0
   • isodate 0.4.9
   • BeautifulSoup 4.3.2
   • lxml (choose lxml-3.3.0.win-amd64-py3.3.exe or lxml-3.3.0.win32-py3.3.exe if you are on 32-bits)
   • html5lib
   • goslate
3. Launch the WinPython Control Panel, located in the folder where you just installed WinPython.
4. Drag-and-drop the files downloaded at step 2 into the Install/upgrade packages area and click on Install packages.
5. Done. You can launch Python using the WinPython Interpreter or the Spyder development environment.

How to set up a proxy

If you need a proxy to connect to the internet, follow these steps.

1. Go to Control Panel › System › Advanced system settings (the last link in the sidebar on the left).
2. In the Advanced tab, click on Environment Variables….
3. In the User variables part (the upper part), click on New….
4. As Variable name, enter http_proxy. As Variable value, enter your proxy server in the form http://PROXYSERVER:8080/ where PROXYSERVER is the name or IP address of your proxy, and 8080 is its port number.
5. If you also need a proxy for HTTPS (secure) connections, repeat steps 3 and 4 for Variable name https_proxy and Variable value https://PROXYSERVER:8080/ (notice the https in both name and value).
6. Close all windows by clicking on OK.

How to use WinPython from an arbitrary command line

If you want to use the python command from any command window, follow these steps.

1. Go to Control Panel › System › Advanced system settings (the last link in the sidebar on the left).
2. In the Advanced tab, click on Environment Variables….
3. In the User variables part (the upper part), look for a variable named Path (or PATH, the case does not matter).
   • If you found it:
     1. Select the line of the Path variable and click on Edit….
     2. Append ;C:\WinPython-64bit-3.3.3.2\python-3.3.3.amd64 at the end of the value, where C:\WinPython-64bit-3.3.3.2 is the path where you installed WinPython.
   • If there is no Path variable:
     1. Click on New….
     2. As Variable name, enter Path. As Variable value, enter C:\WinPython-64bit-3.3.3.2\python-3.3.3.amd64, where C:\WinPython-64bit-3.3.3.2 is the path where you installed WinPython.
4. Close all windows by clicking on OK.