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I have an Anaconda (not miniconda) Python 2.7 install on Windows. I would like to update the version of Python installed to the latest minor version (2.7.9), which I see is available in the channels that conda is configured to use. However, typing conda update python basically says:

# All requested packages already installed.
# packages in environment at C:\Anaconda:
#
python                    2.7.5                         2

How does one update to another minor version of Python on Windows? I guess that since conda is written in Python and Windows does not let you overwrite or delete open files, that might be slightly difficult to do on Windows... But is it possible?

Christian Hudon
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1 Answers1

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You are right that Windows won't let conda update Python in the root environment. The only option is to create a new environment with conda create. Otherwise, for now, you will have to reinstall Anaconda to update the root environment Python. We are working on a way to update Python in the root environment, but it isn't finished yet.

asmeurer
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    Thanks. It might be nice to report something to the user in such case, because having conda tell you it's doing nothing on `conda update python` when you *know* that a more recent minor version is available is rather puzzling and confusing. Also, am I correct in thinking then that if the latest Anaconda ships with Python 2.7.8, it's not possible to install Python 2.7.9 in the root Anaconda environment, and I have to wait for a release of Anaconda that includes 2.7.9? – Christian Hudon Mar 24 '15 at 19:51
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    Yes. We are working on a release of a new version of Anaconda now, which will be out at the end of the month. – asmeurer Mar 24 '15 at 20:01
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    The new version of Anaconda (that includes Python 2.7.9) is now out. – Christian Hudon May 11 '15 at 18:09
  • This feature in conda is coming very soon. – asmeurer Jun 15 '15 at 16:36
  • ugh. just spent several hours trying to figure out why anaconda update leaves my python version at 2.7.7 and ended up here. @asmeurer are you saying I should uninstall/reinstall or by "very soon" do you mean if I can wait a couple days that would work too? – M T Jun 20 '15 at 23:57
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    "Very soon" probably means a couple of weeks, not a couple of days. – asmeurer Jun 22 '15 at 18:07
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    Any news on updating an already installed Python? Right now my banner is `Python 2.7.8 |Anaconda 2.3.0 (32-bit)| (default, Jul 2 2014, 15:13:35) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win32` but no way to update Python itself. – Ronan Paixão Aug 04 '15 at 02:26
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    Any progress on this? – BarryPye Sep 22 '15 at 20:54
  • http://conda.pydata.org/docs/py2or3.html#update-or-upgrade-python seems to have some information on upgrading the interpreter version – xtreak Apr 18 '16 at 07:26