Not able to create or import existing conda project in Pycharm

Question

I am trying to create or open existing conda project in PyCharm. In both cases I get this error:

TypeError: LoadLibrary() argument 1 must be str, not None

I have Anaconda3 package installed (conda 4.7.5) on my Windows machine. I was able to use it successfully from Anaconda Prompt (create and use environments, install packages and create project). But every time I try to create a project in PyCharm by selecting "File -> New Project -> Scientific -> New environment using Conda" with Python 3.6 I am getting the error above while the project is being created.

Alternatively, when I open existing conda project (from Anaconda Prompt) in PyCharm and then trying to select conda as interpreter I am getting exact same error.

I have been trying to solve this problem for 3 hours: reading forums, installing older versions, trying miniconda instead. Is that the problem with PyCharm?

Edit: Attached full stack trace.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1043, in __call__
    return func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\main.py", line 84, in _main
    exit_code = do_call(args, p)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\conda_argparse.py", line 80, in do_call
    module = import_module(relative_mod, __name__.rsplit('.', 1)[0])
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 728, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\main_create.py", line 10, in <module>
    from .install import install
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\install.py", line 19, in <module>
    from ..core.index import calculate_channel_urls, get_index
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\core\index.py", line 9, in <module>
    from .package_cache_data import PackageCacheData
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\core\package_cache_data.py", line 15, in <module>
    from conda_package_handling.api import InvalidArchiveError
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda_package_handling\api.py", line 3, in <module>
    from libarchive.exception import ArchiveError as _LibarchiveArchiveError
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from .entry import ArchiveEntry
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\entry.py", line 6, in <module>
    from . import ffi
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\ffi.py", line 27, in <module>
    libarchive = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(libarchive_path)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 434, in LoadLibrary
    return self._dlltype(name)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 356, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
TypeError: LoadLibrary() argument 1 must be str, not None

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\Scripts\conda-script.py", line 12, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\main.py", line 150, in main
    return conda_exception_handler(_main, *args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1335, in conda_exception_handler
    return_value = exception_handler(func, *args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1046, in __call__
    return self.handle_exception(exc_val, exc_tb)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1090, in handle_exception
    return self.handle_unexpected_exception(exc_val, exc_tb)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1101, in handle_unexpected_exception
    self.print_unexpected_error_report(error_report)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1171, in print_unexpected_error_report
    from .cli.main_info import get_env_vars_str, get_main_info_str
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\main_info.py", line 19, in <module>
    from ..core.index import _supplement_index_with_system
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\core\index.py", line 9, in <module>
    from .package_cache_data import PackageCacheData
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\core\package_cache_data.py", line 15, in <module>
    from conda_package_handling.api import InvalidArchiveError
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda_package_handling\api.py", line 7, in <module>
    from .tarball import CondaTarBZ2 as _CondaTarBZ2
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda_package_handling\tarball.py", line 7, in <module>
    import libarchive
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from .entry import ArchiveEntry
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\entry.py", line 6, in <module>
    from . import ffi
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\ffi.py", line 27, in <module>
    libarchive = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(libarchive_path)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 434, in LoadLibrary
    return self._dlltype(name)
  File "C:\Users\Eduard\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 356, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
TypeError: LoadLibrary() argument 1 must be str, not None

Answer 1

I was getting the same issue while making a conda environment through command prompt. I added this in my environment variables. It helped in my case. Maybe it can help you as well

Your path to anaconda folder/Anaconda3/library/bin

Answer 2

I had the same error when installing a package. Installing through the anaconda navigator didn't have any problem.