Conda - SSL CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Command:

conda create -p venv python==3.10 conda update conda

Error Messages:

Exception: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='repo.anaconda.com', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /pkgs/main/osx-arm64/repodata.json.zst (Caused by SSLError(SSLCertVerificationError(1, '[SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1006)')))

System Configuration:

• Operating System: MacOS

What steps resulted in this error?

1. Creating an virtual environment using Conda:

   conda create -p venv python==3.10
   

What does this error mean?

• This error means that there was a timeout while trying to reach the repo.anaconda.com server.

Why did this error occur?

• The SSL certificate verification process has failed because the local system could not verify the certificate of the server.
• This is a common issue when using corporate networks or private certificates that are not included in the default certificate store.

Solution

• Follow the below steps to resolve the issue:

1. Obtain the Corporate Certificate:
   • Ensure you have the corporate certificate file, typically with a .crt or .pem extension.
2. Locate the Conda Environment Directory:
   • Find the Conda environment directory where you need to add the certificate. You can use the following command to get the base environment directory:

     conda info --base
     

3. Copy the Corporate Certificate to Conda Environment:
   • Copy your corporate certificate to the Conda environment’s ssl directory. Assuming your Conda base environment is in /Users/your-username/anaconda3, you would do something like this:

     cp /path/to/your/corporate_certificate.crt /Users/your-username/anaconda3/ssl/certs/
     

Create the directory /anaconda3/ssl/certs/ if it does not exist.

1. Configure Conda to Use the Corporate Certificate:
   • Conda needs to be configured to recognize and use the certificate for SSL connections. Set the environment variable REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE to the path of the certificate:

     export REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=/Users/your-username/anaconda3/ssl/certs/corporate_certificate.crt
     

2. Persist the Configuration:
   • To make sure the configuration is persistent across shell sessions, add the environment variable to your shell profile (e.g., .zshrc, .bashrc, or .bash_profile):

     echo 'export REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=/Users/your-username/anaconda3/ssl/certs/corporate_certificate.crt' >> ~/.zshrc
     source ~/.zshrc
     

3. Verify the Configuration:
   • Ensure the environment variable is set correctly:

     echo $REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE
     

4. Test the Conda Commands:
   • Try running a Conda command to verify if the setup works correctly:

     conda update conda