I am quite stuck - Chosen path already exists - previously had Anaconda downloaded


I know there is a thread already for this topic but I tried all of the solutions and it does not remedy this.
I also contacted Apple supported but they couldn’t help.

Have you tried removing the /opt/anaconda3 directory before you try and reinstall Anaconda? I can’t imagine the directory would already exist unless there was a previous Anaconda installation on the machine. In the installer, there is usually the option to pick a different installation directory as well - were you unable to do that either?

Hi CrystalS, Thank you for your reply. There is a previous Anaconda installation.

If by removing the /opt/anaconda3 directory you mean typing rm -rf ~/anaconda3 into my terminal application then yes I have tried that.

Also with the installer, I tried all the locations and it did not work.

Thanks for your time.

Hi CrystalS, Thank you for your reply. There is a previous Anaconda installation.

If by removing the /opt/anaconda3 directory you mean typing rm -rf ~/anaconda3 into my terminal application then yes I have tried that.

Also with the installer, I tried all the locations and it did not work.

Thanks for your time.

~/anaconda3 does not mean /opt/anaconda3
On Mac, “~” generally points to your home directory.
What if in the terminal you

cd
cd opt
ls

or

cd /opt
ls

Do you see the anaconda3 directory in either of those locations? Can you remove it?

Dear Crystal,
Thank you your reply. I think you are onto the solution. I have attached what comes up after putting in the things you suggested and anaconda 3 does come up. On the second part:

Screenshot 2024-09-12 at 16.35.03

My question is how to remove it? Thank you again.

The first part is this:

in the second screenshot you have a typo - cs opt instead of cd opt.
However, it looks like you found your installation of anaconda3 in /opt
Because of where it is installed, you’ll need higher permissions to delete it than a regular user. Assuming you have the root password, you can try the following in the terminal - I would expect it to request your root password to execute the command.

sudo rm -rf /opt/anaconda3