ArcGIS Pro – Clone a virtual Python environment for offline machines

In ArcGIS Pro you need to create a new virtual Python environment in order to install additional Python packages. How can you set up that virtual environment on a machine that has no Internet access?

The first surprise is that creating a new virtual environment requires Internet access at all — I had assumed the existing Python environment would simply be copied locally. When creating a new virtual environment, ArcGIS Pro attempts to download Python packages, presumably to install the most recent available versions.

The simplest solution seems to be: create the new virtual environment on a machine that has Internet access, install all additional packages you need there, then copy that environment folder to the offline machine.

Prerequisite: ArcGIS Pro must be the same version on both machines — in other words, the Python runtime must match. I don't know how exact that version match must be.

 Steps:

1) Create a new Python environment in ArcGIS Pro.

2) Install the additional packages you require.

3) The newly created environment is placed in the user's folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\ESRI\conda\envs

Zip the subfolder that corresponds to the environment you want, copy the zip file to the target (offline) machine, and extract it into the same folder there.

 

See also: Solved: How to clone the ArcGIS Pro 3 Python environment? - Esri Community