miniforge does not update prompt with active environment when using cmd.exe

[mmichal3]

Conda-forge documentation

• I could not solve my problem using the conda-forge documentation.

Installed packages

(base)PS C:\Users\mmichalski> conda list
# packages in environment at C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3:
#
# Name                    Version                   Build  Channel
archspec                  0.2.5              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
boltons                   24.0.0             pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
brotli-python             1.1.0           py312h275cf98_2    conda-forge
bzip2                     1.0.8                h2466b09_7    conda-forge
ca-certificates           2025.4.26            h4c7d964_0    conda-forge
certifi                   2025.4.26          pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
cffi                      1.17.1          py312h4389bb4_0    conda-forge
charset-normalizer        3.4.2              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
colorama                  0.4.6              pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
conda                     25.3.0          py312h2e8e312_0    conda-forge
conda-libmamba-solver     25.3.0             pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
conda-package-handling    2.4.0              pyh7900ff3_2    conda-forge
conda-package-streaming   0.11.0             pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
cpp-expected              1.1.0                hc790b64_1    conda-forge
distro                    1.9.0              pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
fmt                       11.1.4               h5f12afc_1    conda-forge
frozendict                2.4.6           py312h4389bb4_0    conda-forge
h2                        4.2.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
hpack                     4.1.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
hyperframe                6.1.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
idna                      3.10               pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
jsonpatch                 1.33               pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
jsonpointer               3.0.0           py312h2e8e312_1    conda-forge
krb5                      1.21.3               hdf4eb48_0    conda-forge
libarchive                3.7.7                h5343c79_4    conda-forge
libcurl                   8.13.0               h88aaa65_0    conda-forge
libexpat                  2.7.0                he0c23c2_0    conda-forge
libffi                    3.4.6                h537db12_1    conda-forge
libiconv                  1.18                 h135ad9c_1    conda-forge
liblzma                   5.8.1                h2466b09_1    conda-forge
libmamba                  2.1.1                h00a3e12_0    conda-forge
libmambapy                2.1.1           py312h259b449_0    conda-forge
libsolv                   0.7.32               hbb528cf_2    conda-forge
libsqlite                 3.49.2               h67fdade_0    conda-forge
libssh2                   1.11.1               h9aa295b_0    conda-forge
libxml2                   2.13.8               h442d1da_0    conda-forge
libzlib                   1.3.1                h2466b09_2    conda-forge
lz4-c                     1.10.0               h2466b09_1    conda-forge
lzo                       2.10              hcfcfb64_1001    conda-forge
mamba                     2.1.1                hbfb34a1_0    conda-forge
menuinst                  2.2.0           py312h275cf98_0    conda-forge
miniforge_console_shortcut 1.0                  h57928b3_0    conda-forge
nlohmann_json             3.11.3               he0c23c2_1    conda-forge
openssl                   3.5.0                ha4e3fda_1    conda-forge
packaging                 25.0               pyh29332c3_1    conda-forge
pip                       25.1.1             pyh8b19718_0    conda-forge
platformdirs              4.3.8              pyhe01879c_0    conda-forge
pluggy                    1.5.0              pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
pybind11-abi              4                    hd8ed1ab_3    conda-forge
pycosat                   0.6.6           py312h4389bb4_2    conda-forge
pycparser                 2.22               pyh29332c3_1    conda-forge
pysocks                   1.7.1              pyh09c184e_7    conda-forge
python                    3.12.10         h3f84c4b_0_cpython    conda-forge
python_abi                3.12                    7_cp312    conda-forge
reproc                    14.2.5.post0         h2466b09_0    conda-forge
reproc-cpp                14.2.5.post0         he0c23c2_0    conda-forge
requests                  2.32.3             pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
ruamel.yaml               0.18.10         py312h4389bb4_0    conda-forge
ruamel.yaml.clib          0.2.8           py312h4389bb4_1    conda-forge
setuptools                80.1.0             pyhff2d567_0    conda-forge
simdjson                  3.12.3               hc790b64_0    conda-forge
tk                        8.6.13               h5226925_1    conda-forge
tqdm                      4.67.1             pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
truststore                0.10.1             pyh29332c3_0    conda-forge
tzdata                    2025b                h78e105d_0    conda-forge
ucrt                      10.0.22621.0         h57928b3_1    conda-forge
urllib3                   2.4.0              pyhd8ed1ab_0    conda-forge
vc                        14.3                h2b53caa_26    conda-forge
vc14_runtime              14.42.34438         hfd919c2_26    conda-forge
wheel                     0.45.1             pyhd8ed1ab_1    conda-forge
win_inet_pton             1.1.0              pyh7428d3b_8    conda-forge
yaml-cpp                  0.8.0                he0c23c2_0    conda-forge
zstandard                 0.23.0          py312h4389bb4_2    conda-forge
zstd                      1.5.7                hbeecb71_2    conda-forge
(base)PS C:\Users\mmichalski>

Environment info

active environment : base
    active env location : C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3
            shell level : 1
       user config file : C:\Users\mmichalski\.condarc
 populated config files : C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3\.condarc
                          C:\Users\mmichalski\.condarc
          conda version : 25.3.0
    conda-build version : not installed
         python version : 3.12.10.final.0
                 solver : libmamba (default)
       virtual packages : __archspec=1=skylake
                          __conda=25.3.0=0
                          __win=10.0.22631=0
       base environment : C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3  (writable)
      conda av data dir : C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3\etc\conda
  conda av metadata url : None
           channel URLs : https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/win-64
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/noarch
          package cache : C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3\pkgs
                          C:\Users\mmichalski\.conda\pkgs
                          C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
       envs directories : C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3\envs
                          C:\Users\mmichalski\.conda\envs
                          C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
               platform : win-64
             user-agent : conda/25.3.0 requests/2.32.3 CPython/3.12.10 Windows/11 Windows/10.0.22631 solver/libmamba conda-libmamba-solver/25.3.0 libmambapy/2.1.1
          administrator : False
             netrc file : None
           offline mode : False

Issue

I installed miniconda. I then ran:
conda create -c conda-forge -n spyder-env spyder numpy scipy pandas matplotlib sympy cython

the prompt simply read C:\Users\Username\ and did not show the active environment (base)
I then ran:
conda activate spyder-env
conda config --env --add channels conda-forge
conda config --env --set channel_priority strict

The prompt still did not show the active environment.(which should then have been "spyder-env"

I closed and reopened the prompt using the shortcut that was created during the miniforge install with no effect.

I then opened PowerShell. The prompt correctly displayed the active environment (base) and when I ran "conda activate base" and "conda activate spyder-env" it correctly changed.

I then opened cmd.exe from the link that was created during the miniforge install and it still did not show the active environment. I typed powershell. The prompt displayed correctly. I exited powershell and closed the cmd.exe window.

I then launched cmd.exe again. I ran "mamba activate base" and it correctly displayed the active environment in the prompt. I ran "mamba activate spyder-env" and it correctly changed to display active environment. I tried it in powershell and mamba worked correctly.

Still in powershell I then ran "conda activate base". It correctly displayed "base" in the prompt. I then exited powershell to cmd.exe. It incorrectly showed "spyder-env", the last thing mamba changed it to.

I think what is going on here is that mamba appears to set the prompt from "C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3\condabin_mamba_activate.bat. I cant find an analagous command in any of the conda batch files.

On the other hand, "C:\Users\mmichalski\AppData\Local\miniforge3\shell\condabin" contains powershell scripts (conda.psm1) which contain a command to change the powershell prompt. This apperantly makes it work in powershell.