First time posting! Really stuck, need experienced help. I am a mechanical engineering student with a small amount of c programming experience, about to tackle a personal project using Python, which I will learn to use as-I-go.
Trying to add an interpreter to the Python Environment in MS Visual Studio 2015 (VS).
Downloaded Python 3.6, at the time I did not realize 3.5 was recommended by MS for use with VS. VS did not find Python 3.6 automatically, so I tried to add the path manually using "+ Custom...". 3.6 wasn't an option in the edition dropdown, so tried to type it in. When I "Applied", the program stopped working. After restarting VS, Python is still not added, and the "+ Custom" button is greyed out, not allowing me to add the proper Python 3.5 or any other interpreter not automatically recognized.
The only interpreter I have successfully added since is IronPython, which is automatically recognized. Python 3.6, 3.5, 3.4.4 were installed but not automatically recognized.
Web searches only provided this: https://github.com/Microsoft/PTVS/issues/1760 The person had the same problem but only recovered use of the "+ custom" button by reinstalling his operating system and VS. I would like to avoid this extreme repair strategy.
I have restarted my computer and VS many times throughout troubleshooting. I am confident that once the "+ Custom..." button becomes active, the rest of the interpreter install will go fine.
Alternatively, If there is a lower-level way to add interpreters to the Python Environment, I would attempt that strategy if some guidance were provided.
Thank you for considering
Try to remove PTVS 2.2.5 and install an older version like PTVS 2.2 and you should be able to use the "+ custom" button again...