1

The issue

I have recently installed Anaconda3 (as downloaded on 31-Mar-2023) onto a Windows PC. I chose the installation for my username only, which doesn't require admin rights. It's my private PC, so no corporate firewalls.

Quite simply, conda doesn't work. Even a banal command like conda update pandas will result in:

Collecting package metadata (current_repodata.json): done
Solving environment: failed with repodata from current_repodata.json, will retry with next repodata source.
Solving environment: failed with repodata from current_repodata.json, will retry with next repodata source.
Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): |

and, even if I leave it an hour, it remains stuck at collecting package metadata. To be clear, pandas doesn't need updating, mine was just a test to see if conda works properly, and it doesn't.

What I have tried

Beyond uninstalling and reinstalling multiple times, I have disabled my firewall (Eset on Windows) thinking that maybe it was blocking access to the remote repositories.

I now get the message that loads of packages will be downloaded from conda forge - but these are all packages which I already have, and the version is the same, too. I did not go ahead with this.

    The following packages will be downloaded:
    
        package                    |            build
        ---------------------------|-----------------
   [...]
        numpy-1.24.2               |  py310hd02465a_0         5.6 MB  conda-forge
        openjpeg-2.5.0             |       ha2aaf27_2         232 KB  conda-forge
        openssl-1.1.1t             |       hcfcfb64_0         5.0 MB  conda-forge
        packaging-23.0             |     pyhd8ed1ab_0          40 KB  conda-forge
        pandas-1.5.3               |  py310h1c4a608_1        10.2 MB  conda-forge
        pathlib-1.0.1              |  py310h5588dad_7           5 KB  conda-forge

My interpretation

  1. It seems I have two problems: the ESET firewall blocks conda
  2. if I disable the firewall, conda searches the conda-forge repository first, and wants to replace the pandas 1.5.3 I already have with the pandas 1.5.3 from conda-forge, and the same for a number of other packages

What I have researched

I have found many, many posts on this matter, but they mostly seem to focus on how to use additional repository sources (e.g. conda forge) and how to configure them correctly. Stuck at Solving Environment on Anaconda I think my case is different - we're not talking about struggling to install an obscure package from an obscure repository, we're saying conda cannot even update pandas!

I have found other discussions at https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/11919 https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/8051 but they don't seem particularly relevant to my case.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Pythonista anonymous
  • 8,140
  • 20
  • 70
  • 112

1 Answers1

2

Sounds like you have conda-forge included in your channel configuration.

Run conda config --show-sources to see your configuration files and it will likely look something like this:

==> C:\Users\root\.condarc <==
channels:
  - conda-forge

If so, either manually open and edit the config file or run:

conda config --remove-key channels
Ken Odegard
  • 246
  • 1
  • 4
  • Yes! I had conda-forge at the top of my .condarc file. But if I remove the file altogether and run 'conda update pandas', conda tries to remove loads of packages (flaks, scipy, matplotlib). Why is that, what does it mean? – Pythonista anonymous Mar 31 '23 at 18:35
  • 1
    Difficult to say for sure and depends on the prior commands run. You can inspect how your environment has changed over time by running `conda list --revisions` and can restore to the original revision via `conda install --revision REVISION`. This may be better diagnosed as an [issue on the conda project](https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/new/choose). – Ken Odegard Mar 31 '23 at 22:04
  • true. the version keeps changing when the time you installing new library. the older version of installer, the more time consuming to complete. thats not always the case if you are begginers and not looking up for the latest library. for advance users, this is difficult task when they try to retain the same installer – Azam Jul 15 '23 at 00:23