Issue Regarding Mamba Initialization in Windows PowerShell

[Ellie-CV]

Comment:

Hello, I'm not sure if this is a bug, but it seems important since it directly affects the experience of new users on the Windows platform.

• System: (X64) Windows 11 Professional 24H2
• CPU: (X64) AMD Ryzen 7 8845H

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I first downloaded Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe from Miniforge3, and during installation:

• I selected User-level installation and changed the installation path to D:\Development\Miniforge3.
• I checked Register Miniforge3 as my default Python 3.12 and Clear the package cache upon completion.

Note: I did not select Add Miniforge3 to my PATH environment variable.

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Then, I opened Windows PowerShell and navigated to D:\Development\Miniforge3\Library\bin, where I entered .\mamba --help, and here is where the problem occurred:

Notice that in this screenshot, the initialization details mention init (In fact, it is still "conda init"), and after running .\mamba init (which writes Conda-related information to profile.ps1 but not Mamba), operations like mamba activate ... fail to activate, with no error message—just no activation at all! This issue is frequently discussed on various forums, and most responses suggest "Use Conda to manage environments, and Mamba to install" as a workaround.

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However, if I update Mamba before initializing, by running .\mamba update -n base mamba, and then run .\mamba --help again:

This time, I see the actual Mamba Help Center, not Conda!

It’s worth noting that after running .\mamba update -n base mamba, the following content appears automatically:

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Afterward, in the actual "Mamba Help," following the instructions, I ran .\mamba shell init --shell powershell --root-prefix D:\Development\Miniforge3 to initialize:

It worked! This was the true Mamba Init. Now, using commands like mamba activate ... works as expected:

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[alex180500]

Same issue! This is incredibly confusing and should be fixed asap.

I want to also stress out that even in miniforge prompt, after a fresh install and after updating the base environment with mamba update --all I get this very confusing environment list:

what is going on? I think the update to mamba 2 is breaking lots of stuff

[hmaarrfk]

what is going on? I think the update to mamba 2 is breaking lots of stuff

Maybe.... i don't use windows but that looks likely.

Perhaps try again to download the latest "Miniforge3" installer (not Mambaforge)

[alex180500]

This is done with the latest miniforge3 installer, that is, 24.11.0

[hmaarrfk]

24.11.0 was built with

• conda 24.11.0
• mamba 1.5.11

https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/blob/24.11.0-0/Miniforge3/construct.yaml#L5

You must have "updated mamba" afterward.

[hmaarrfk]

I’m not saying you are wrong to comment in this issue. I’m just trying to better understand what happened.

[alex180500]

Yes, no worries! I'm talking about these steps:

1. Fresh install of 24.11.0
2. mamba update --all on the base environment from miniforge shell

Maybe I should not update the base environment? although I never had problem with this, maybe for mamba 2.0 is different.

[hmaarrfk]

mamba update --all on the base environment from miniforge shell

This is typically the recommended setup, but i've seen alot of issues around 2.0.5.

On this repo, i'm really only interested in "getting the conda and mamba command command installed".

Issues pertaining to "updated conda" or "updated mamba" should go to their respected feedstocks.

• https://github.com/conda-forge/conda-feedstock/issues
• https://github.com/conda-forge/mamba-feedstock/issues

Or maybe even upstream directly...
https://github.com/mamba-org/mamba/issues

The thing is though, I had a released version of Miniforge3 with conda 24.11.0 and mamba 2 that was the "latest" release a while back, but it was pulled due to issues like this that I saw.....

[jedfrechette]

Yes, no worries! I'm talking about these steps:

1. Fresh install of 24.11.0
2. mamba update --all on the base environment from miniforge shell

FWIW, starting with an older version of miniforge (e.g. 24.7.1-2) breaks in the same way as described above.

[hmaarrfk]

I believe that mamba 2.0.5 is buggy. Miniforge is now released with Mamba 1.5.12.

Please open an issue with mamba-feedstock or mamba-org/mamba, but as far as Miniforge3 is now concerned, the installer is working as of https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/tag/24.11.2-1 We have downgraded to 1.5.12 and a patched version of conda that addresses the deprecations