How to Delete a Conda Environment
PythonUse built-in commands to remove named or prefix-based environments and reclaim disk space.

Run the dedicated command to remove an environment: see the documentation for conda env remove
. The steps below cover deletion, verification, and post-cleanup.
Method 1: Remove a named environment
Step 1: Deactivate the environment you plan to delete.
conda deactivate
Step 2: Remove the environment by name.
conda env remove --name myenv
Tip: As an alternative, you can use conda remove --name myenv --all
(command reference), which deletes all packages in that env.
Step 3: Verify the environment no longer appears in your list.
conda env list
Method 2: Remove an environment created with a custom path (prefix)
Step 1: Deactivate any active environment.
conda deactivate
Step 2: Remove the environment by its full path.
conda remove -p /full/path/to/env --all
Step 3: Confirm removal by listing environments or checking the directory no longer exists.
conda env list
Method 3: Clean cached packages after removal (optional)
Step 1: Free disk space by deleting unused caches and tarballs.
conda clean --all
Step 2: Auto-confirm prompts when running cleanup non-interactively.
conda clean --all -y
Details on cleanup options are in the clean command reference.
Troubleshooting
“Cannot remove current environment”: You’re trying to delete the active env. Run conda deactivate
and retry.
“EnvironmentLocationNotFound”: Check the env name with conda env list
, or use the exact path with -p
if it was created via prefix.
Verification and management: Use conda env list
or conda info --envs
to confirm current and remaining environments. Broader environment tasks are covered in the managing environments documentation.
That’s it—deactivate, remove, verify, and optionally clean caches. These steps keep your Conda setup tidy and reduce disk usage.
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