PyCharm: Anaconda installation is not found

There is an open bug, currently PyCharm and IDEA both seem to detect Conda installation only from %HOMEPATH%/anaconda. https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/PY-26923

The easiest workaround is to create a symlink to $HOME/.anaconda

mklink /D %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\anaconda C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3

Note that C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3 should be replaced with the path to your Anconda installation. If you selected to installed it for "Just Me" instead of "All Users", your default location will be

C:\Users\<your_username>\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3

UPDATE: This issue is now fixed in IDEA and PyCharm since version 2018.1. You can specify a custom path under Python Interpreter or SDK settings in Conda Environment section.


In @Ahti Kitsik's answer above, the following line did not work, and resulted in a an error: mklink /D %HOMEPATH%\anaconda C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3

Because of a different install location, the following worked for me:

mklink /D "%HOMEPATH%\anaconda" "C:\Dev\Anaconda3"

"C:\Dev\Anaconda3" should be the anaconda installation folder on your PC.

Also, be sure to run the cmd with administrator privilege, otherwise you will get a permission error when trying to create the symlink.