Navigator error an unexpected error occurred on navigator start up

• Navigator error on start up
• Issues launching or initializing
• PermissionError on macOS Catalina
• Access denied error
• Navigator buttons are missing
• Navigator ignores the “Ok, and don’t show again” option on the help Anaconda improve pop up
• Trouble logging in to Anaconda Server from Navigator
• VS Code is not appearing on my Anaconda Navigator home tab
• Anaconda Navigator fails to start and gives Permission denied error

Navigator error on start up¶

This is often the result of a corrupted .condarc file. To resolve, delete the .condarc file and restart Navigator.

1. Find the .condarc file.

   In Anaconda Prompt or the terminal, enter the command conda info. The output will tell you the location of your .condarc file(s). You can also search for “.condarc” on your computer.

   The .condarc file is frequently found in:

   • macOS: /Users/<USERNAME>
   • Linux: ~/.condarc
   • Windows: C:\Users\<USERNAME>

2. Optional: Save custom configurations.

   If you had custom configuration in your .condarc file before it was corrupted, save the information to add that configuration back to the new file.

3. Delete the .condarc file.

4. Restart Navigator.

Issues launching or initializing¶

If you are having problems launching Anaconda Navigator, follow these steps.

If you cannot launch the Anaconda Navigator desktop app, you can still launch it from the terminal or an Anaconda Prompt with anaconda-navigator.

conda update anaconda-navigator

conda remove anaconda-navigator
conda install anaconda-navigator

anaconda-navigator --reset

PermissionError on macOS Catalina¶

MacOS Catalina users may experience permission errors where the system does not prompt you for permission to folders requiring access.

First, update Navigator.

conda update anaconda-navigator

Once updated, have Navigator generate the permissions prompt by launching Spyder and running the following in the console:

import os
os.listdir('<DIRECTORY>')
# Replace <DIRECTORY> with the folder you need access to.

Access denied error¶

This is caused by a lock file that sometimes gets stuck and isn’t removed when it should be.

In Anaconda Prompt or a terminal, run:

conda update conda
conda update anaconda-navigator
conda update navigator-updater
anaconda-navigator --reset

The last command is the key to fixing the issue, as it removes the lock file causing the problem.

Navigator buttons are missing¶

If your Navigator buttons are missing, try the following:

1. Run Update Index from the Environments page of Navigator.
2. Quit and restart Navigator.

• If it’s still broken, confirm that your .condarc file is not corrupt. Specifically confirm that your channel settings contain “defaults”.
• If it’s still broken, try running conda search python from the command line. This will download a fresh copy of the repodata, which should resolve the problem.
• If none of the above options work, open an issue detailing the error.

Navigator ignores the “Ok, and don’t show again” option on the help Anaconda improve pop up¶

After starting Navigator, a pop up appears asking if you’d like to provide anonymized usage information to Anaconda. If you select “Okay, and don’t show again” and the pop up appears again the next time you start Navigator, it may be due to a privilege conflict.

Specifically, this can occur when Navigator was installed by a user with Administrator privileges, but you are using it as a regular user without the Administrator privileges. The pop up continues to appear because you do not have permission to change the pop up box setting.

To resolve this, switch to using an account with Administrator privileges and select the “Ok, and don’t show again” option in the pop up box. This will apply to all user accounts.

Alternatively, edit the show_startup field in the .anaconda/navigator/anaconda-navigator.ini configuration file so that it is False. If show_startup = True, you will continue to see the pop up box.

Trouble logging in to Anaconda Server from Navigator¶

If you are having issues logging in or know you’re logged in but cannot interact with Anaconda Server, try the following steps:

1. Set logged_api_url, team_edition_token, and team_edition_token_id in the Navigator config file (anaconda-navigator.ini) to None.
2. Remove channel_alias from the conda configuration file (.condarc).
3. Try signing in again.

VS Code is not appearing on my Anaconda Navigator home tab¶

Anaconda Navigator displays and launches VS Code, and many other applications, through that application’s executable file. VS Code’s installation should have placed the executable in a specific directory where Anaconda Navigator is programmed to look. For example:

• Windows User-Only Installation: C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code
• Windows System-Wide Installation: C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code
• Linux-64: /usr/share/code
• macOS: /Applications

Reinstall VS Code to ensure that executable is installed in the default location.

1. Close Anaconda Navigator.

2. Uninstall (if necessary) and reinstall VS Code.

   Note

   On macOS, make sure the VS Code application is moved from your Downloads folder to your Applications folder.

3. Re-open Anaconda Navigator.

Another option, if you have installed VS Code to a different location than the default, is to edit VS Code’s path in your Anaconda Navigator user preferences.

1. Open the Anaconda Navigator Preferences dialog from the top menu bar (such as File > Preferences or Anaconda Navigator > Preferences).

2. Scroll down to the VS Code path setting.

3. Enter the path to the installation of VS Code you would like Anaconda Navigator to use. This may be similar to the examples above, especially if you have a user-specific installation you would rather use over your system-wide installation.

   Note

   You do not need to enter the name of the executable file itself. Just the path to the folder that contains that file.

4. Close and reopen Anaconda Navigator.

Anaconda Navigator fails to start and gives Permission denied error¶

After installation, Anaconda Navigator may fail to start and give you a “Permission denied” error on the anaconda-client configuration file (/.continuum/anaconda-client/config.yaml).