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A Guide to Installing PyTorch with Anaconda and Troubleshooting Errors

As a data scientist or software engineer, you’re likely familiar with PyTorch, an open-source machine learning library for Python. PyTorch is known for its ease of use and dynamic computational graph, making it a popular choice for deep learning tasks. However, installing PyTorch with Anaconda can sometimes lead to errors. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of installing PyTorch with Anaconda and provide solutions to common errors that you may encounter.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous

As a data scientist or software engineer, you’re likely familiar with PyTorch , an open-source machine learning library for Python . PyTorch is known for its ease of use and dynamic computational graph, making it a popular choice for deep learning tasks. However, installing PyTorch with Anaconda can sometimes lead to errors. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of installing PyTorch with Anaconda and provide solutions to common errors that you may encounter.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. What is Anaconda?
  3. Installing PyTorch with Anaconda
    1. Step 1: Open the Anaconda prompt or terminal
    2. Step 2: Create a new conda environment
    3. Step 3: Activate the new environment
    4. Step 4: Install PyTorch using conda
    5. Step 5: Verify the installation
  4. Common Errors and Solutions
    1. Error 1: “PackagesNotFoundError”
    2. Error 2: “ImportError: DLL load failed”
    3. Error 3: “RuntimeError: CUDA error”
    4. Error 4: “AssertionError: Torch not compiled with CUDA enabled”
  5. Conclusion

What is Anaconda?

Anaconda is a distribution of Python that comes with pre-installed packages and tools for scientific computing and data analysis. It also includes a package manager, conda, that allows you to easily install, update, and manage packages. Anaconda is widely used in the data science community and is a popular choice for managing Python environments.

Installing PyTorch with Anaconda

Before we get started, make sure you have Anaconda installed on your system. You can download Anaconda from the official website: https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual . Once you have Anaconda installed, follow these steps to install PyTorch:

  1. Open the Anaconda prompt or terminal.

  2. Create a new conda environment for PyTorch by running the following command: 

    conda create --name pytorch_env

    This will create a new environment named pytorch_env .

  3. Activate the new environment by running the following command: 

    conda activate pytorch_env

  4. Install PyTorch using conda. The following command installs the CPU version of PyTorch: 

    conda install pytorch torchvision cpuonly -c pytorch

    If you have a GPU and want to install the GPU version of PyTorch, replace cpuonly with cudatoolkit . For example: 

    conda install pytorch torchvision cudatoolkit -c pytorch