Conda install and update do not work also solving environment get errors

Question

I am using anaconda as below:

(base) C:\Users\xxx>conda info

     active environment : base
    active env location : C:\Users\xxx\Documents\ANACONDA
            shell level : 1
       user config file : C:\Users\xxx\.condarc
 populated config files : C:\Users\xxx\.condarc
          conda version : 4.7.11
    conda-build version : 3.18.9
         python version : 3.6.9.final.0
       virtual packages :
       base environment : C:\Users\xxx\Documents\ANACONDA  (writable)
           channel URLs : https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/free/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/free/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/noarch
          package cache : C:\Users\xxx\Documents\ANACONDA\pkgs
                          C:\Users\xxx\.conda\pkgs
                          C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
       envs directories : C:\Users\xxx\Documents\ANACONDA\envs
                          C:\Users\xxx\.conda\envs
                          C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
               platform : win-64
             user-agent : conda/4.7.11 requests/2.22.0 CPython/3.6.9 Windows/10 Windows/10.0.16299
          administrator : False
             netrc file : None
           offline mode : False

Now I have 2 issues that stop my work. 1) I cannot use conda install for any package. It will give me the error in solving environment list this:

failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve.

then it will fail again and give message like this:

Found conflicts! Looking for incompatible packages.
This can take several minutes.  Press CTRL-C to abort.

Even after the checking for incompatible packages, it didn't give me the solution.

2) When I want to upgrade or downgrade conda by the command:

conda update -n base conda

or

conda install conda = 4.6.11

It will give me errors again in the solving environment, and I think this is related to the first issue.

Now I cannot use conda for anything, please advise and thank you!

If anyone coming from Google has this issue and also uses conda-forge, try `conda config --set channel_priority flexible`. The source of the issue for some users (including myself) was `conda config --set channel_priority strict`. — dcwaters, Apr 13 '22 at 09:05

score 80 · Accepted Answer · edited May 02 '20 at 08:37

80

I ran into the same problem and I couldn't find a solution, but I did find a workaround. If you create an env and activate that env and then do the install, it seems to work just fine. If you don't need a lot of libraries I would try that.

Commands are:

Create env

conda create --name myenv

Activate the env

conda activate myenv

edited May 02 '20 at 08:37

linog

5,350
3
13
23

answered Aug 21 '19 at 18:03

SKiD

924
6
4

Although this is a workaround, but it seems the most feasible way to solve this problem. After having another env, the conda install works again and this time I only choose conda install as much as possible and carefully. – J.D Sep 20 '19 at 02:28
1

For folks like me who start creating a virtual environment using python, the environment has to be created using conda and not anything else. – Abhyudai Nov 10 '19 at 22:49
1

Same problem here and a lot of users posting the same question on their Github page. Creating a new env seems to work fine. Otherwise it takes forever to solve the environment. – frankliuao Nov 16 '20 at 01:21
1

Is there really no other way? Creating a new environment is too large for my smaller drive so I can only use the base environment – B.Quaink Jan 05 '21 at 09:31
2

I ran into this problem in a completely new environment I had just created, so apparently there's more to the problem than just a corrupted environment. – Grant Petty Jan 29 '21 at 22:20
conda install -c anaconda python=3.8 I created an new environment and activated it then install python 3.8 – Golden Lion Aug 18 '21 at 17:54
`conda info --envs` to view your environments, `conda activate` to select one – Michael Boles Nov 15 '21 at 04:51

exan · Answer 2 · 2020-11-23T03:49:41.277

43

I started running in to this problem when one package suggested following modifications before installation

conda config --set channel_priority true

so I just reverted it and voila error's gone

conda config --set channel_priority false

edited Nov 23 '20 at 03:49

answered Aug 24 '20 at 08:30

exan

1,939
4
15
26

3

Thanks a lot, this worked for me on conda 4.9.2. There was no need to downgrade conda to 4.6 – sherminator35 Nov 13 '20 at 20:46
3

Now **channel_priority** has different values: 'strict', 'flexible', and 'disabled'. Try `conda config --describe channel_priority` to get a description of these new values. `true` and `false` are still accepted but only act as aliases for flexible and disabled, while strict is a completely a new value that, if it finds the package you're trying to install into a high-priority-channel, completely ignores other channels disregarding the version they're providing. – Masso Apr 28 '21 at 00:59
1

this worked for me as well with conda 4.10.3 on macos. – channa ly Sep 17 '21 at 02:48
this works for me too. I remembered setting it to Strict due to some package recommendation. Then forgotten to set it back. Thanks for the help! – Choe May 12 '22 at 03:27

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 27 '21 at 09:20

16

I solved a similar problem by doing the following:

conda update --all --yes

answered Jul 27 '21 at 09:20

Rosario Scavo

340
2
5

1

Solved my problem to install `pyarrow`. Thanks. – igorkf Aug 05 '21 at 15:01
1

Solved my issue too, with contextlib2 – Yishai E Sep 29 '21 at 09:31
Hmm, but still it becomes a sort of infinite process and it downloads packages once again. – Snowflake Apr 28 '22 at 08:53

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 10 '19 at 22:53

5

You may downgrade to an older version of conda 4.6.14 and then install your packages.

conda config --set allow_conda_downgrades true
conda install conda=4.6.14

answered Nov 10 '19 at 22:53

Abhyudai

766
6
15

1

As a side comment, if you go this route (which I did), you'll likely need a fresh anaconda installation for this to work – Gene Burinsky Apr 04 '20 at 02:11
2

It's not wise to stay on an older version indefinitely. – Asclepius Dec 01 '20 at 20:40

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered May 11 '20 at 09:00

If your conda version is greater than or equal to 4.8, you may see that error.

(base) [localhost ~]$ conda --version
conda 4.8.2
(base) [localhost ~]$ conda install -c anaconda requests-kerberos
Collecting package metadata (current_repodata.json): done
Solving environment: failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve.
Solving environment: failed with repodata from current_repodata.json, will retry with next repodata source.

Downgrade your conda if possible using the following commands

conda config --set allow_conda_downgrades true
conda install conda=4.6.14

Then create your virtual environment:

conda create --name myenv_conda

Then activate your myenv_conda

conda activate myenv_conda

Now try to install packages using conda -c install anaconda

eg: conda install -c conda requests-kerberos

output:
(myenv_conda) [localhost ~]$ conda install -c anaconda requests-kerberos
Collecting package metadata: done
Solving environment: done
....
....
....
Preparing transaction: done
Verifying transaction: done
Executing transaction: done

Thomas · Answer 6 · 2020-10-18T11:13:36.227

1

I run into same problem while installing geopandas. The issue was gone after I upgraded to a newer version of Anaconda using:

conda update --prefix C:\apps\anaconda3 anaconda

Note: you'll have to modify the path C:\apps\anaconda3 pointing to your own installation directory.

Strangely, I did download Anaconda from the official homepage just a few hours ago and thought I had the newest version...

edited Oct 18 '20 at 11:13

answered Oct 18 '20 at 03:56

Thomas

7,643
14
43
74

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 01 '20 at 18:06

0

https://stackoverflow.com/a/61117831/7802476 helped me. Creating a new environment using the accepted answer didn't get my jupyter notebook to recognize the installed opencv. I could only import cv2 when I was in the environment on my terminal.

The fix was to use pip instead of conda, pip install opencv-python

answered Jul 01 '20 at 18:06

Prox

279
5
13

1

Yes `opencv` is one of the higher visibility packages not natively supported by `conda` – WestCoastProjects Jul 31 '20 at 16:03

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 03 '22 at 12:25

0

I had same problem but I solved because of SKİD.

After you create new env, You can run one of the codes in this link.

https://anaconda.org/rdkit/rdkit

answered Feb 03 '22 at 12:25

teksoy

11
4

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - [From Review](/review/late-answers/30979570) – Kaz Feb 07 '22 at 11:40

score -1 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 14 '19 at 13:03

-1

Create a new environment if your are not superuser, after that activate environment to install packages

answered Nov 14 '19 at 13:03

Rochan

1,284
1
13
15

It does not help, even the original author mentioned that such a method is problematic and it would be better to put channel_priority as false – Snowflake Apr 28 '22 at 08:46

score -3 · Answer 10 · edited Dec 01 '20 at 20:40

-3

Recommend to upgrade conda latest version.

conda install --quiet --yes conda=4.7.11 
python -m pip install --upgrade pip==19.2.2

edited Dec 01 '20 at 20:40

Asclepius

49,954
14
144
128

answered Aug 16 '19 at 19:12

Taewon

113
1
2

6

Still failed in solving env when trying to install conda=4.7.11, after it said`found conflict`, it went to package checking and stopped there forever... – J.D Aug 21 '19 at 01:13
stuck with same problem. pl anyone help – emeralddove Aug 25 '19 at 14:26
3

You can use conda=4.6, it's ok so far. – Robert Sep 04 '19 at 09:02
Same problem. Do you recommend downgrading from conda=4.7 to conda=4.6? – istewart Sep 05 '19 at 23:50
3

Downgrading to conda 4.6 helped me get around this issue and let me install specific versions of packages as normal. – Jammeth_Q Sep 24 '19 at 18:22

Conda install and update do not work also solving environment get errors

10 Answers10

Linked