Uninstalling Anaconda leaves traces that prevent a new clean installation in windows 10-64

Issue Report Checklist

• Searched the issues page for similar reports
• Read the relevant sections of the Spyder Troubleshooting Guide and followed its advice
• Reproduced the issue after updating with conda update spyder (or pip, if not using Anaconda)
• Could not reproduce inside jupyter qtconsole (if console-related)
• Tried basic troubleshooting (if a bug/error)
  • Restarted Spyder
  • Reset preferences with spyder --reset
  • Reinstalled the latest version of Anaconda
  • Tried the other applicable steps from the Troubleshooting Guide
• Completed the Problem Description, Steps to Reproduce and Version sections below

Problem Description

Good day all. I have been using Anaconda Spyder successfully for about a year. About 3 weeks ago I started using the PyQt5 GUIs and at point, my Spyder and Anaconda Navigator IDE broke (they won’t lunch). I searched this web site and others to find a solution but nothing worked. I decided to completely uninstall Anaconda using the windows uninstaller, deleted all the .conda and .python files that I could find and that the uninstaller did not deleate, cleaned the registers using the CCleaner software, rebooted the computer, downloaded the latest Anaconda installer, and the problem remains the same. Spyder or Anaconda will not lunch. Things that I have tried are: Spyper –reset Uninstall SIP and PyQt5 and the reinstalling them using the conda install (package) --just in case that they are corrupted. Conda install py pyqt Python lunches fine when called from the CMD prompt, but when I execute spyder or Anaconda-Navegator, it does nothing but return a command prompt. This happens in a windows 10-64, Python 3.7.1, and whatever the latest version of Anaconda is as of 3/1/2019. I am at a complete lost. My question would be: How to completely clean the Anaconda installation from my windows 10-64 computer, so that I can install a new, clean Anaconda. –Assuming that the problem doesn’t come from Anaconda itself, this should always work. Any help would be tremendously appreciated.

What steps reproduce the problem?

1. Attempts to lunch Spyder fails with no errors
2. Attempts to lunch Anaconda Navigator fails. –no errors
3. Python works when executed from the Command prompt

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

After a complete uninstall and reinstall of Anaconda, Everything should work as it did before

Paste Traceback/Error Below (if applicable)

PASTE TRACEBACK HERE

Versions

• Spyder version: Latest version as of 3/1/2019 (from site)
• Python version: 3.7.1
• Qt version: Latest version as of 3/1/2019 (from site)
• PyQt version: Latest version as of 3/1/2019 (from site)
• Operating System name/version: Windows 10-64

Dependencies

PASTE DEPENDENCIES HERE

[titobr]

I was finally able to solve this problem. In my case, and after I uninstalled and tried to reinstall anaconda several times, I found that for some reason there were several anaconda files under the user folder in my computer. I even found a complete copy of anaconda in one of those files. After I deleted by hand all traces and files related to anaconda, I was able to reinstall a new version with no other issues. I would recommend to uninstall anaconda, then do a file search on your entire computer using the file explorer Ex: *.py. These may discover some of your own files, but maybe you can move those to a memory stick and do another search. If you find any more *.py, delete the entire folder. After that try installing Anaconda.

[pauelm]

The Anaconda installation is notorious at being a hot mess. Even if you get packages working correctly, it is inevitable that you will run into problems all over again, when you use pip to install new packages, as Anaconda and pip will continue clobbering each other. Unfortunately, the only way to avoid the broken, corrupt installs / uninstalls is to avoid Anaconda all together, and pip install only the packages that you need. Having many packages to install can be a pain, but you can also script it out. This way, not only you avoid Anaconda creating conflicts with pip, but you also avoid bloatware.