Wondering how to install PIP on windows? Take a peek at this blog.

Here at Bobcares, we have seen several such Windows-related installations as part of our Server Management Services for web hosts and online service providers.

Today, we’ll take a look at how to install PIP on Windows.

A few facts about Pip

Pip is abbreviated as a “preferred installer program” or “Pip Installs Packages”. It is one of the most popular and best tools to install and manage Python packages.

Also, it helps in enabling 3rd package installations.

Moreover, various applications use this tool.

How to install PIP on Windows

Now let’s take a look at the installation process of PIP on Windows.

1. Check if the PIP is already installed

By default, PIP is installed in much newer Python builds. So we need to check if it is already installed on the system or not.

Here is the command that you can run to check its installation.

pip help

If the PIP is already present on the system then you will receive a message that explains how to use the program. In case, if it is not then you will receive an error stating ‘program is not found’.

2. Confirm Python installation

The next step is to check Python installation on the system. For that, you can simply open the command prompt and type python, and hit Enter. If Python is installed on the server then you must receive an output with the Python version.

But in case, if you receive an error message ‘Python is not recognized as an internal or external command’ then it means that the Python is either not installed or the system variable path has not been set.

So you would need to launch the Python from the folder in which it is installed. Or else you would need to freshly install it.

3. Install PIP on Windows

After confirming that Python is installed on the system, we can now install PIP. Here are the steps for it.

• First, download the file get-pip.py to a folder on your computer.
  URL to download the file: https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
• Next, open the command prompt and access the folder containing the get-pip.py installer.
• Finally, execute the below command.
  python get-pip.py

Now, the PIP must be installed successfully on the system. In case, if you receive an error “file not found” then double-check the directory path of the file. Make use of the dir command to view the contents of the directory.

4. Verify the installation and check the PIP version

Once the installation completes, we can now verify the installation. For that, run the below command in the command prompt.

pip -V

You must see an output stating the PIP version.

5. Using PIP to manage Python Packages

After installing and configuring PIP, we can now use it to manage the Python packages. For that, you can run the below command that will provide you a brief overview of the commands available and syntax for PIP.

pip help

6. Configuration

You can find the PIP configuration file at the path %HOME%\pip\pip.ini.

Also, it contains a legacy per-user configuration file. This file is located at %APPDATA%\pip\pip.ini.

Moreover, you can specify a custom path location for this config file using the environment variable PIP_CONFIG_FILE.

Upgrading PIP

You can upgrade PIP to take advantage of the latest features and security fixes. To accomplish this, just open the command prompt and run the below command.

python -m pip install --upgrade pip

The above command will uninstall the older version of PIP and installs the latest one.

Downgrading PIP

Sometimes, you may need to downgrade the PIP version due to compatibility issues. For doing so, run the below command in the command prompt(use the version number as you prefer).

python -m pip install pip==18.0

Now, PIP will successfully downgrade. Also, you can confirm the version by running the below command.

pip -V

[Need any further assistance with Windows queries? – We are here to help you]

Conclusion

Today, we saw how our Support Engineers install PIP on Windows.