The Easy Way to Update Python & Anaconda in Windows

This post is more for my own purposes but if you’re reading this I hope it helps 🙂 I’m a very basic Python user and I’ve battled a bit on how to keep Python updated; I use Anaconda plus have various packages installed via pip. Below is the process I use to keep Anaconda and Pip installed packages updated in Microsoft Windows.

Note: the below process will resolve any ‘Consider using the --user option or check the permissions’ error that you may receive.

Time needed: 15 minutes.

Follow the instructions below to update Python Anaconda and pip packages in Windows.

Open Anaconda Powershell Prompt
Search Windows for ‘Anaconda Powershell Prompt’ and click ‘run as Administrator’.
Update Anaconda
Enter the following code into the prompt and click enter on your keyboard:
conda update --all
Wait for the updates to complete.
Update pip packages
Enter
python
into the prompt and click enter on your keyboard.
Enter the following code into the prompt and click enter on your keyboard:
import pkg_resources from subprocess import call packages = [dist.project_name for dist in pkg_resources.working_set] call("pip install --upgrade --user " + ' '.join(packages), shell=True)
You’ll soon need to click the enter key again and then you will wait awhile for the updates to complete.