How can I use both Anaconda versions (2.7 & 3.5)?

Question

I was using the Anaconda 3.5 distro in a Windows 10 machine. Due to dependencies in libraries that I want to work with, I had to have the 2.7 version i

Answer 1

I also despise the virtual environment switch that Anaconda tries to force on us. I prefer to have both executables always instantly available from the command line. I'm pretty sure I had this working on a Windows machine once:

1. Install Anaconda2 and Anaconda3 to the C:\ drive as "C:\Anaconda2\" and "C:\Anaconda3\" respectively.
2. Edit your "Path" environment variable (Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables) and make sure that "C:\Anaconda2;C:\Anaconda2\Scripts;C:\Anaconda2\Library\bin" is in front of "C:\Anaconda3;C:\Anaconda3\Scripts;C:\Anaconda3\Library\bin".
3. Copy and rename the file "C:\Anaconda3\python.exe" to "C:\Anaconda3\python3.exe".
4. Copy and rename the file "C:\Anaconda3\Scripts\conda.exe" to "C:\Anaconda3\Scripts\conda3.exe"
5. Copy and rename any other scripts you might use in "C:\Anaconda3\Scripts\", such as "pip.exe" to "pip3.exe", etc.

Now, when you type "python" or "conda" at the command line you will get the python2 version, and when you type "python3" or "conda3", etc. at the command line you will get the python3 version.