Struggling to get Installed Frameworks to work on Windows 10

Pardon the multifaceted question, I am not exactly sure how to describe the issue I am having.

I’ve installed Python correctly and can invoke the version. However I have never been able to actually use a framework I’ve installed. I feel like I am missing something as I follow installation guides yet in the end the powershell cannot use the commands (regardless of the folders I am in).

I am going through the Python list project using Miniconda. I installed Miniconda to my root folder (C:) however when I used CMD or Powershell - conda list - I get an error saying conda is not recognized? I’ve had similar issues with Postgress and Django as well when trying to activate my virtual env? Feeling lost in the woods with setting up this stuff locally.

As an aside I am very confused how to organize all of these directories in my folders in general so they are not all located in my C: drive unless that is always necessary?

Any tips would be greatly appreciate, thank you.

It sounds like these things were installed but not added to your PATH. If you hunted down the executable files or similar with their absolute path (e.g. C:\\foldername\bin\exec.exe) and ran them there’s a good chance they would be fine, the issue is that there ins no variable for your CMD/Powershell to link to and therefore it doesn’t understand the command. There should be some guidance on the conda install pages- or if not a web search might be your best shout for getting at least some of these items added to your PATH after installation.

I’m not aware of anything stopping you form installing items in a directory as opposed to the root of the C: drive (though you should always read the installation guidance to be sure). Unfortunately it’s often hard to move them once they are installed without worrying about broken links and such. Normally there are options to choose the install location whilst installing. For minimal effort but a bit of a delay you could uninstall and very carefully select the right options when installing or you could do a web search to see if there’s an easy way to move things but there’s a fair chance it won’t be all that easy.


I am not really familiar with miniconda but I tell you, you could really save yourself the hassle by using pip. If you installed python FULLY, you should already have pip installed. Frameworks on pip can be installed on windows using the pip install command. e.g.
pip install math
pip install pyqt5
pip install datetime
And nearly all other python modules!
I don’t really know why people install frameworks with other tools when the ever useful pip is always available. As for frameworks like django, they’re no different:

All you need to do is run pip install Django and voila!
Hope this helped!


If you are using Anaconda or Miniconda on Windows, it likely came with “Anaconda Prompt”, which is basically a version of CMD with conda already set up. Try looking for Anaconda Prompt, and if it is there then use that. I believe Anaconda Prompt is installed by default now unless you select choose a certain option when you’re installing Miniconda.

If you’d rather use a different terminal you will have to add conda to your path manually. If you prefer using Git Bash let me know and I’ll walk you through setting up conda there.