# Cannot install Anaconda - Mac Air M1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Product Help\ **Created:** [April 3, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491 "2024-04-03T14:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![patran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2df01/32.png) [@patran](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/patran)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/1 "2024-04-03T14:28:16Z")
I am using Mac Air M1. I uninstalled Anaconda a few years ago. Now I need to install again. But there is nan error message - Chosen path already exists ‘/opt/anaconda3’ , (please relaunch the installer and choose another location in the Destination Select step. I think that means the old path/folder is still there so the new Anaconda cannot be installed. So I also attach the screenshot of my file/folders under user, and I see many “anaconda” related folders. So what should I do now? Please advise? ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/anaconda/original/2X/3/37d27735c98d7002ae898e47950bf9269ee53632.png) ---
**Author:** ![Carlos\_Valin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f5a800/32.png) [@Carlos\_Valin](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/Carlos_Valin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 10:07am UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/2 "2024-04-04T10:07:15Z")
> [@patran](#): > > I think that means the old path/folder is still there so the new Anaconda cannot be installed. So I also attach the screenshot of my file/folders under user, and I see many “anaconda” related folders. So what should I do now? Please advise? Please try to uninstall Anaconda and install it again. I’m going to leave you the installer here for your platform so that you can install it: [https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2024.02-1-MacOSX-arm64.pkg](https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2024.02-1-MacOSX-arm64.pkg) There is the x86 installer as well: [https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2024.02-1-MacOSX-x86\_64.pkg](https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2024.02-1-MacOSX-x86_64.pkg) It’s also advisable to completely uninstall Anaconda before proceeding with the installation to make sure to get rid of any errors, you can do that if you follow these instructions: ### macOS or Linux 1. Open your terminal application. 2. Remove your entire Anaconda directory with rm -rf. Depending on your installation, your anaconda2 or anaconda3 directory will be in your root folder or in your opt folder. # The following are a few examples of how you may need to delete your Anaconda folder sudo su rm -rf anaconda3 rm -rf ~/anaconda3 rm -rf ~/opt/anaconda3 rm -rf /opt/anaconda3 1. Close and reopen your terminal to refresh it. You should no longer see (base) in your terminal prompt. If you want here is a detailed explanation: > **[Uninstalling Anaconda Distribution - Anaconda](https://www.anaconda.com/docs/getting-started/anaconda/uninstall)** Please let us know if that fixed your problem, we are eager to help you. ---
**Author:** ![patran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2df01/32.png) [@patran](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/patran)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 11:10am UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/3 "2024-04-04T11:10:31Z")
Thanks Carlos, I tried rm -rf anaconda3 rm -rf ~/anaconda3 rm -rf ~/opt/anaconda3 rm -rf /opt/anaconda3 but the last one shows "permission denied. why is that the case? see if you some insight on that ![Screenshot 2024-04-04 at 19.10.09](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/anaconda/original/2X/2/2d7aa7a50a3f87f099fe0631dd4bf11024c175c0.png) ---
**Author:** ![Carlos\_Valin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f5a800/32.png) [@Carlos\_Valin](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/Carlos_Valin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 11:46am UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/4 "2024-04-04T11:46:31Z")
Hi again, Please run it with sudo, It will ask for your user password afterwards: sudo rm -rf /opt/anaconda3 ---
**Author:** ![nicholasschwab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/80bc00/32.png) [@nicholasschwab](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/nicholasschwab)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/5 "2024-04-18T14:13:36Z")
Thanks Carlos, this helped me ---
**Author:** ![aazsiraj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0075a9/32.png) [@aazsiraj](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/aazsiraj)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/6 "2024-04-26T22:10:17Z")
Thank you so much. It worked. ---
**Author:** ![priyab2010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2df01/32.png) [@priyab2010](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/priyab2010)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/7 "2024-05-13T23:21:03Z")
I tried following this as I had the same issue, but it gave me this output: ![Screenshot 2024-05-13 at 7.19.12 PM](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/anaconda/original/2X/8/817c125bda9ca6fb1d2cc7eb4b87c8955a90531c.png) ---
**Author:** ![steve](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/anaconda/user_avatar/forum.anaconda.com/steve/32/73_2.png) [@steve](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/steve)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2024, 12:34am UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/8 "2024-05-14T00:34:15Z")
Looks like you may be missing a space between `-rf` and `/opt/anaconda3` on that last command. It should be `sudo rm -rf /opt/anaconda3` ---
**Author:** ![seinlinn.private](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f5a800/32.png) [@seinlinn.private](https://forum.anaconda.com/u/seinlinn.private)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 8:18am UTC](https://forum.anaconda.com/t/cannot-install-anaconda-mac-air-m1/69491/9 "2024-07-08T08:18:56Z")
Thanks Carlos, it worked