How to modify the location of .condarc file?

I have recently installed Miniconda3 on windows. Conda expects the .condarc file to be located in the windows "home directory" C:\Users\user.name\.condarc.

How can I tell conda to look for a .condarc file in a different location?

Solution

TL;DR: You can set CONDARC=/path/to/.condarc or put the file in one of the paths below.

See the condarc documentation for a list of paths where conda searches for the .condarc file. You can place your .condarc any of these paths (the paths that apply to your operating system).

I have included the relevant information below.

if on_win:
 SEARCH_PATH = (
     'C:/ProgramData/conda/.condarc',
     'C:/ProgramData/conda/condarc',
     'C:/ProgramData/conda/condarc.d',
 )
else:
 SEARCH_PATH = (
     '/etc/conda/.condarc',
     '/etc/conda/condarc',
     '/etc/conda/condarc.d/',
     '/var/lib/conda/.condarc',
     '/var/lib/conda/condarc',
     '/var/lib/conda/condarc.d/',
  )

 SEARCH_PATH += (
     '$CONDA_ROOT/.condarc',
     '$CONDA_ROOT/condarc',
     '$CONDA_ROOT/condarc.d/',
     '~/.conda/.condarc',
     '~/.conda/condarc',
     '~/.conda/condarc.d/',
     '~/.condarc',
     '$CONDA_PREFIX/.condarc',
     '$CONDA_PREFIX/condarc',
     '$CONDA_PREFIX/condarc.d/',
     '$CONDARC',
 )

CONDA_ROOT is the path for your base conda install. CONDA_PREFIX is the path to the current active environment.

If one has multiple .condarc files, conda will merge the information using the following strategies:

Lists - merge

Dictionaries - merge

Primitive - clobber [i.e., overwrite]