Veronica K. B. Olsen
150 lines
5.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
150 lines
5.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _a_setup_win:
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****************
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Setup on Windows
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****************
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This is a brief guide to how you can get novelWriter running on a Windows computer.
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Unlike other operating systems, Windows does not come prepared with an environment to run Python
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applications, so you must first install Python. After that, running novelWriter is straightforward.
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.. tip::
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If you have any problems, you can always open a question on the project's discussions_ page.
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This requires a GitHub account.
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.. _discussions: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/discussions
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.. _a_setup_win_installer:
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Using the Installer
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===================
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The installer for Windows is no longer provided. See the `installer issue`_ for more info on why.
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You can still create the installer yourself if you want to. It can be generated with the provided
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``setup.py`` script. use the script's ``help`` command to get further instructions.
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Please use the "Running from Source" option below instead. It has been improved and a script has
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been added that does nearly the same thing.
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.. _installer issue: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/issues/640
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.. _a_setup_win_source:
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Running from Source
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===================
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To run novelWriter from source, download the latest source zip file from the release page on
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GitHub_, or from the `main website`_. You can download the "Minimal Windows" zip file. It is a
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minimal version of the source that contains only the files needed for running on Windows. You can
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also download the full source if you wish.
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In order to make novelWriter run on your system, you must first have Python installed (Step 1).
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Thereafter, a script will do the rest of the job (Step 2). Alternatively, you can run this step
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manually from the command prompt if you wish to.
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.. tip::
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If your system already has all the dependencies installed, you can run novelWriter directly from
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the extracted folder by double-clicking the ``novelWriter.pyw`` file. However, running the
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script also adds start icons.
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.. _GitHub: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/releases
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.. _main website: https://novelwriter.io
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Step 1: Installing Python
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-------------------------
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If you already have Python installed, you can skip this step. If you don't have it installed, you
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can download it from the python.org_ website. novelWriter should work with Python 3.6 or higher,
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but it is recommended that you install the latest version of Python.
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Make sure you select the "Add Python to PATH" option during installation, otherwise the ``python``
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command will not work in the command line window.
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.. image:: images/python_win_install.png
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:width: 600
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.. _python.org: https://www.python.org/downloads/windows
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Step 2: Dependencies and Icons
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------------------------------
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**Alternative A: By Script**
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Open the folder where you extracted novelWriter, and double-click the file named
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``setup_windows.bat``. This should open a command line window and run the setup script to install
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dependencies, and add desktop and start menu icons.
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.. note::
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If you downloaded the full source package, the file may be in the ``setup`` subfolder.
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The script will also check that it can find Python on your system and alert you if it cannot run
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it. If you are sure you have installed it, but the script cannot find it, you probably didn't
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install it with the "Add Python to PATH" option mentioned in Step 1.
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.. note::
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If you upgrade Python to a newer version and the path to ``pythonw.exe`` has therefore changed,
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you may need to run this script again. You can also run it to upgrade dependencies to the latest
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version.
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**Alternative B: Manual Installation**
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The above alternative can also be run manually.
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Open the windows command prompt. It can be launched by pressing the :kbd:`Win` key and typing "cmd".
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The "Command Prompt" app should then be in the list of applications.
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With the command prompt open, navigate to the folder where you extracted the novelWriter source,
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and run the following commands:
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.. code-block:: console
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pip install --user pywin32 -r requirements.txt
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python setup.py win-install
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The first command will install the dependencies on your system from the `Python Package Index`_,
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and the second command will create a desktop icon and a start menu icon. That should be all that
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you need.
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.. _Python Package Index: https://pypi.org/
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Uninstalling
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============
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**Alternative A: By Script**
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Open the folder where you keep the novelWriter files, and double-click the file named
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``uninstall_windows.bat``. This should open a command line window and run the setup script to
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remove the main dependency packages and remove desktop and start menu icons.
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.. note::
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If you downloaded the full source package, the file may be in the ``setup`` subfolder.
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If you plan to also remove Python from your system, you must run the above script first as it needs
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Python in order to run.
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.. note::
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Due to limitations of the ``pip`` installer, dependencies of the dependencies will not be
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removed, only the ones the setup script directly installed.
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**Alternative B: Manual Uninstallation**
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Like for the install process, the script just runs two commands. You can of course run them
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yourself if you wish. They are:
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.. code-block:: console
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python setup.py win-uninstall
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pip uninstall -r requirements.txt
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There may be other packages on your system installed by ``pip``. To list all packages, run:
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.. code-block:: console
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pip freeze --user
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