How to install Anaconda on Ubuntu or Debian

Anaconda Distribution on Ubuntu or Debian gives a workstation or analysis host a user-owned Python stack with Conda, Anaconda Navigator, and prebuilt data-science packages. Installing from the official Linux shell installer keeps the large package set under the user's home directory instead of mixing it with APT-managed Python.

The supported Linux installer is a standalone shell script from repo.anaconda.com/archive. The filename is architecture-specific; most PCs use Linux-x86_64, while ARM64 servers use Linux-aarch64. Verifying the SHA-256 hash before running the script catches incomplete downloads and wrong installer files.

Silent mode with -b and -p avoids an interactive prompt transcript, but it still requires review of Anaconda's legal terms and an empty destination directory. After activation, conda init bash writes the Bash startup hook so new terminals can run conda activate; managed shell profiles should preview that change or initialize the shell separately.

Steps to install Anaconda Distribution on Ubuntu or Debian:

Open a terminal with sudo privileges.
Refresh the package index.
```
$ sudo apt update
```
Install the download and certificate tools.
```
$ sudo apt install curl ca-certificates
```
Anaconda Navigator is included with Anaconda Distribution. Minimal Ubuntu or Debian desktops may also need the Qt, OpenGL, X11, XCB, and ALSA libraries listed in Anaconda's Linux installer docs before anaconda-navigator opens.
Check the CPU architecture.
```
$ uname -m
x86_64
```
Set the installer filename for x86_64 Linux.
```
$ INSTALLER=Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh
```
Use Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-aarch64.sh instead when uname -m returns aarch64 or arm64. If the archive lists a newer installer, use the matching filename and hash for that release.

Download the installer from the official archive.

$ curl --fail --location --remote-name "https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/$INSTALLER"

Verify the installer hash against the archive entry.
```
$ sha256sum "$INSTALLER"
57b2b48cc5b8665e25fce7011f0389d47c1288288007844b3b1ba482d4f39029  Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh
```
Do not run the installer when the local hash differs from the archive hash. For Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-aarch64.sh, the matching SHA-256 value is be13a20f31d82508a061984fa3555369cfd8e4692643721415c19e7dc2e9e0f9.
Review Anaconda's legal terms before running the installer.
```
https://anaconda.com/legal
```
Install Anaconda Distribution into the current user's home directory.
```
$ bash "./$INSTALLER" -b -p "$HOME/anaconda3"
PREFIX=/home/user/anaconda3
Unpacking bootstrapper...
Unpacking payload...
Installing base environment...
installation finished.
```
Use an empty destination such as $HOME/anaconda3. Pointing the installer at an existing Conda prefix can damage environments already in use.
Activate Anaconda in the current terminal.
```
$ source "$HOME/anaconda3/bin/activate"
```
Initialize Conda for future Bash terminal windows.
```
$ conda init bash
##### snipped #####
modified      /home/user/.bashrc

==> For changes to take effect, close and re-open your current shell. <==
```
conda init bash updates ~/.bashrc. Run conda init bash --dry-run first on managed shell profiles, and disable automatic base activation separately if new terminals should not start in base.
Related: How to initialize Conda for a shell
Related: How to disable automatic activation of the Conda base environment
Open a new Bash terminal.
Confirm that the shell can run Conda.
```
$ conda --version
conda 25.11.1
```
The exact version changes with the installer release. The command should run without command not found.

Confirm the active Conda base prefix.

$ conda info --base
/home/user/anaconda3

Confirm the Anaconda package set is present.

$ conda list anaconda
# packages in environment at /home/user/anaconda3:
#
# Name                      Version          Build             Channel
_anaconda_depends           2025.12          py313_openblas_0
anaconda-anon-usage         0.7.5            pyhb46e38b_100
anaconda-auth               0.12.3           py313hd43f75c_0
anaconda-catalogs           0.2.0            py313hd43f75c_3
anaconda-cli-base           0.7.0            py313hd43f75c_0
anaconda-client             1.14.0           py313hd43f75c_0
anaconda-navigator          2.7.0            py313hd43f75c_1
anaconda-project            0.11.1           py313hd43f75c_1
conda-anaconda-telemetry    0.3.0            pyhd3eb1b0_1
conda-anaconda-tos          0.2.2            py313hd43f75c_1

Run a local Python smoke test from the Anaconda environment.

$ python -c "import numpy, pandas; print('anaconda imports ok')"
anaconda imports ok

Remove the downloaded installer after the install is verified.
```
$ rm "$INSTALLER"
```
This removes only the shell installer in the current directory. It does not remove the Anaconda installation under $HOME/anaconda3.