After the mambaforge install completes, how do I get to be able to run mamba commands?

Question

I downloaded the mambaforge install file for Windows, ran it, and it successfully completed. Mamba has a quickstart guide with CLI commands here: https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user_guide/mamba.html

But I can't figure out WHERE to enter the commands (e.g. mamba create -n envname). Is there supposed to be a Start Menu shortcut for Mambaforge or something similar? I checked the option to create Start Menu shortcuts during the install, but I don't see any even though the install completed without errors.

I tried running mamba create -n envname from the cmd prompt and it returns:

'mamba' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Clearly I missed a step somewhere but I can't for the life of me figure out what.

What I tried already: I tried running the Mambaforge-Windows-x86_64.exe and checked the option to create Start Menu shortcuts. The install completed successfully. I found the mambaforge directory (which has a _conda.exe and python.exe among others)

I was expecting it to create a "mambaforge" start menu shortcut. As far as I can tell no start menu shortcuts were created.

The Windows installation instructions are literally a single line: "Download the installer and double click it on the file browser." https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge

Answer 1

I was expecting it to create a "mambaforge" start menu shortcut. As far as I can tell no start menu shortcuts were created.

The start menu shortcut is called "miniforge prompt" and behaves as you expect from Anaconda prompt. Mambaforge is based on miniforge, and the prompt stems from that.

Answer 2

Not sure if this is the recommended way to do this, but I fixed it by adding the \condabin directory of installation into the system PATH variables. For me it is C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Local\mambaforge\condabin. (Please check this link if you don't know how to modify PATH variables: https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm )

Then you'll be able to run mamba info from the command line or PowerShell.

I'm not sure if there is a start menu shortcut there, for me it seems no such shortcut was provided (which was different from anaconda installation).

Answer 3

Firstly open "miniforge prompt".

Then run the below code to install mamba:

conda install mamba -n base -c conda-forge

After it is installed, you can run the mamba command in cmd.