When installing arcgis pro can I point to an existing conda installation?

Question

I have now discovered I have 5 python installations on my machine and 3 conda folders. Say I have a windows 10 machine with some Deep Learning packages and an existing conda installation. Is there any way to redirect ArcGIS pro  to store its environment and utilize the existing conda package so that I can include calls to arcpy with my other data science tasks?

KenPierce · Answer

Thanks Dan. I was afraid something along those lines was the answer. I guess the Pro conda installation doesn't force you to use it as your conda installation based on the bat files esri includes that turn the arcgispro environment on for its own use. I think visual studio tools for python also installed one of the three conda distributions I have. I hope continuum will recognize the tendency for multiple conda installs and work out a universal system to manage it.

DanPatterson_Retired · Answer

When you install pro, it creates its own anaconda distribution.  Don't mess with it, don't try to move stuff to another one.  Manage and the installation of other packages in there even if they make a redundant install of the same.  The Pro distribution is quite extensive and is covered in a number of blogs (I have several if you care to look them up.).

If your deep learning packages don't need arcmap, keep processing there and share data folders within a project to view results.  The python installation uses Python 3.5.? and Spyder is available for installation as an IDE (my blog again) but people have had some success using others if you get the pointing right.  I guess the general rule would be to remove all versions of python, Install ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro... you will get Python 2.7.?? for ArcMap (non-conda) and Python with the Scipy stack (numpy, matplotlib and a whole load of other modules) in a conda distribution for Pro.

Good luck