The anaconda-navigator stops working after installing gdal

Question

I am new to python and anaconda I am using Windows 10 and Python 3.5

After installing gdal with the command (in the Anaconda prompt)

>conda install -c conda-forge gdal

the anaconda-navigator does not launch anymore and I get the error message:

pythonw: This application failed to start because it could not find or load the Qt platform plugin "windows" in "".

I think it is because some packages were downgraded... during the installation I got the message:

The following packages will be DOWNGRADED due to dependency conflicts:

anaconda-navigator: 1.3.1-py35_0                       --> 1.2.3-py35_0
matplotlib:         1.5.3-np111py35_0                  --> 1.5.1-np111py35_0

what is the best way to solve this problem?

Answer 1

I found two solutions to this problem, I think the second one is better:

Solution 1: I first solved this problem by using python 2.7 instead of 3.5.

In fact with the command: >conda install gdal

I got the following message:

UnsatisfiableError: The following specifications were found to be in conflict: - gdal - python 3.5* Use "conda info <package>" to see the dependencies for each package.

So I created a new environment with python 2.7, following the instructions here

>conda create -n py27 python=2.7 anaconda activate py27 Then I installed the gdal (and other packages I needed) >conda install gdal

It is then possible to directly launch the anaconda-navigator (just typing anaconda-navigator in the command line. Also opening the anaconda-navigator from the menu I can select the environment with "application on: py27" and start spyder in this environment.

Solution 2: I kept using python 3.5 but instead of using conda install I downloaded the compatible binaries from the "Unofficial Windows Binaries for Python Extension Packages"

>pip install <package-path>