title: CONDA Base Env load error / NUMPY: ImportError: DLL load failed
body: <p>Just installed miniconda on <code>C:\Anaconda 3</code> and ran <code>conda install numpy</code> unsing the Anaconda shell (defaults to conda base as env).</p>
  
  <p>If I run the Anaconda command prompt and type <code>python &gt;&gt; import numpy</code> all works fine.</p>
  
  <p>If I open a normal command window and got to <code>c:\Anaconda3</code> and run <code>python &gt;&gt; import numpy</code> this fails (error below).</p>
  
  <p>I have checked <code>sys.path</code> and they are the same on both CMD windows. The only solution is to run on the normal CMD window doing: <code>c:\Anaconda3\Scripts\conda activate base</code> and then run <code>python &gt;&gt; import numpy</code>.</p>
  
  <p>I had Miniconda installations in the past that did not have this issue so I am surprised to suddenly have to activate the environment. I thought the base environment is loaded by default but it seems as if this is not the case and i have to force that.</p>
  
  <p>The error I get is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; import numpy
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "&lt;stdin&gt;", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
    File "c:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\numpy\__init__.py", line 140, in &lt;module&gt;
  
      from . import _distributor_init
    File "c:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\numpy\_distributor_init.py", line 34, in
  &lt;module&gt;
      from . import _mklinit
  ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I found that I could run from the command line: <code>C:\Anaconda3\python.exe C:\Anaconda3\cwp.py C:\Anaconda3 C:\Anaconda3\python.exe</code> and then run <code>import numpy</code> and that will work. The cwp.py file is as follows:</p>
  
  <pre><code># this script is used on windows to wrap shortcuts so that they are executed within an environment
  #   It only sets the appropriate prefix PATH entries - it does not actually activate environments
  
  import os
  import sys
  import subprocess
  from os.path import join, pathsep
  
  from menuinst.knownfolders import FOLDERID, get_folder_path, PathNotFoundException
  
  # call as: python cwp.py PREFIX ARGs...
  
  prefix = sys.argv[1]
  args = sys.argv[2:]
  
  new_paths = pathsep.join([prefix,
                           join(prefix, "Library", "mingw-w64", "bin"),
                           join(prefix, "Library", "usr", "bin"),
                           join(prefix, "Library", "bin"),
                           join(prefix, "Scripts")])
  env = os.environ.copy()
  env['PATH'] = new_paths + pathsep + env['PATH']
  env['CONDA_PREFIX'] = prefix
  
  documents_folder, exception = get_folder_path(FOLDERID.Documents)
  if exception:
      documents_folder, exception = get_folder_path(FOLDERID.PublicDocuments)
  if not exception:
      os.chdir(documents_folder)
  sys.exit(subprocess.call(args, env=env))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>PS: If you wonder "why is this needed if you can simply activate base"? When using xlwings for instance the script calls python.exe (without activating an environment first, even if I thought that using the python.exe on the root folder meant you did not need to activate base environment). This is troublesome as I get the error when I try to load numpy.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>