Last night, I was trying to learn about conda and environments and I did the introductory tutorial. The biggest issue was really running the Python Command Prompt as an administrator. So, I created a new environment from the Command Prompt using conda install --name and it appears to work just fine. However, when I try to activate it in ArcGIS Pro, it says it is broken. I installed pywin32, which caused an upgrade to Python 3.9. Also, I don't really need all the other libraries in the arcgispro-py3 environment, which is why I started from the base environment versus cloning arcgispro-py3.
My question is basically is this expected? Are there certain requirements for a conda environment to function in ArcGIS Pro, which is why the software always clones arcgispro-py3?