Anaconda Python 32-bit Is Trying To Load Anaconda 64-bit Libraries

I'm on Window 7 64-bit and trying to use both Anaconda Python 64-bit and 32-bit distributions on the same system. I want to be able to build Windows 32-bit executables for distribu

Solution 1:

I believe my PYTHONHOME environment variable was set to C:\Anaconda (the 64-bit installation). When I attempted to run C:\Anaconda32\python.exe, it saw the PYTHONHOME variable and attempted to use that directory as the location to load libraries from. This is explained in the Python Docs here.

By removing PYTHONHOME, I am able to run Anaconda 32-bit and 64-bit side by side. Whichever occurs first in my path will be automatically run when typing python at the command prompt. When I open either interpreter, I get the correct version and bit information and they load the correct libraries. Also because I selected to set each as the default python during installation, the 32-bit and 64-bit python registry keys were set allowing installers to find the corresponding installation.

If you want to use multiple versions of Python side by side, I recommend removing PYTHONHOME and PYTHONPATH if you don't need them to avoid an environment clashing between the different installations. I could be wrong here, but this appeared to solve my problem.

To be completely explicit I installed to C:\Anaconda32 and C:\Anaconda64. That way if I see anything with just C:\Anaconda I know it's incorrect.