pyvswitch

pyvswitch is a polished Windows tray utility for quickly changing which installed Python version appears first on your PATH. It is built for developers who jump between Python versions and want a fast, visual, rollback-safe switcher without hand-editing environment variables.

Made by ecuunlock.com.

✨ Highlights

• 🐍 Detects installed Python versions from the registry, py -0p, PATH, and cache.
• ⚡ Switches the active Python from a tray popup or full GUI.
• 🧭 Supports User PATH and System PATH scopes.
• 🧯 Creates a PATH backup before every switch.
• ↩️ Restores previous PATH entries with rollback.
• 🪟 Uses a dark Windows-native WPF interface.
• 🎨 Includes Python blue/yellow branding, custom tray popup, and animated UI entrance.
• 📦 Builds a self-contained Windows x64 MSI installer.
• 🧪 Includes health checks for where python, python --version, and pip --version.
• 🚫 Ignores MSYS2 Python executables under C:\msys64 so they do not hijack normal Windows Python selection.
• 🧹 Includes cleanup/uninstall tools for shortcuts, startup entries, app data, and app folder removal.

📸 UI

The app has three main surfaces:

• Tray icon for quick access.
• Tray popup for fast version switching.
• Full dashboard for installs, health checks, settings, rollback, downloads, and cleanup.

🚀 Install

Download or build the branded setup app:

.\artifacts\installer\pyvswitch-setup-0.4.0-win-x64.exe

The MSI is also produced for direct deployment:

.\artifacts\installer\pyvswitch-0.4.0-win-x64.msi

The installer places the app in:

Program Files\ecuunlock.com\pyvswitch

It also creates a Start Menu shortcut named:

pyvswitch

🧰 Build From Source

Requirements:

• Windows 10/11
• .NET SDK 9.0+

Run the app locally:

dotnet run

Build a debug binary:

dotnet build

Publish a self-contained Windows x64 app:

dotnet publish .\PythonVersionSwitch.csproj `
  -c Release `
  -r win-x64 `
  --self-contained true `
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true `
  -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true `
  -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true `
  -o .\artifacts\publish\win-x64

📦 Build The Installer

The repo includes a WiX-based installer script:

.\build-installer.ps1

Output:

.\artifacts\installer\pyvswitch-setup-0.4.0-win-x64.exe
.\artifacts\installer\pyvswitch-0.4.0-win-x64.msi

The build script:

• Restores the local WiX tool.
• Publishes a self-contained app.
• Builds the MSI.
• Builds a branded setup EXE wrapper with the pyvswitch icon.
• Validates the MSI.

🧠 How Switching Works

pyvswitch updates PATH by placing the selected Python install directory, and its Scripts directory when present, before other Python entries.

Before each switch, pyvswitch stores a backup so you can roll back safely.

Default behavior:

Scope: User PATH
Backup: enabled
Rollback: enabled
Python launcher py.ini update: enabled

System PATH changes require administrator permissions.

🩺 Health Check

The Health tab runs:

where python
python --version
pip --version

Commands are timeout-protected so they should not freeze the UI.

🧾 Logs

If the app reports a switch failure or recovers from a UI error, check:

$env:APPDATA\PythonVersionSwitch\logs\app.log

🧹 Cleanup

The Uninstall tab can:

• Remove the startup entry.
• Remove the desktop shortcut.
• Delete saved app settings and backups.
• Launch a self-cleanup script for the installed app folder.

It does not uninstall Python versions or edit PATH during cleanup.

🗺️ Roadmap

• 🧑‍💻 pyvswitch-cli for headless scripting and automation.
• 🧩 Optional per-project Python profiles.
• 🔍 Better package-manager detection.
• 🪄 One-click install flows for official Python releases.
• 📊 More detailed PATH diff preview before switching.

📄 License

Licensed under the MIT License.