rstudio cannot be installed on this environment (Anaconda3 on Windows 10)

Question

I am on Windows 10, and have installed Anaconda3 individual edition (version 2020.11, latest as of Dec. 12, 2020). I want to install RStudio inside Anaconda3.

I created a new environment called renv (also tried rstudio, renv2, etc) and checked both Python (3.8) and r. Then, I tried to install RStudio on this environment. Unfortunately, I always got this error: rstudio cannot be installed on this environment. It asks me whether I'd like to create a new environment (which is exactly what I have done). So, I created a new environment and the same error occurred, over and over again.

Some things I have tried so far:

• Tried installing for all user
• Tried installing only for me
• Tried running the exe installer as a normal user
• Tried running the exe installer as an administrator
• Tried checking "using Anaconda3 as the system Python3"
• Tried unchecking "using Anaconda3 as the system Python3"

No luck in resolving the issue... I had this problem several months back, hoped new releases will not have the problem. Unfortunately, the error persists.

Can someone help?

Answer 1

The following steps may work.

1. Make a clean installation of Anaconda with defaults selected

2. Login with your Anaconda account in the Anaconda Navigator, and leave (exit) it

3. Open Anaconda Prompt (as an administrator)

4. Create a new environment (say myRandPy) with R and Python both with R essentials and R base and Rstudio package, all in a single command

conda create -n myrandpy r python r-essentials r-base rstudio

5. Press y and hit Enter when asked.
6. Go to Anaconda Navigator to activate the new environment and launch Rstudio

Hopefully, this will solve the issue.