> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://anaconda.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configuring conda

If you are familiar with conda and want to use it to install the packages you need, you can configure conda to search a specific set of channels for packages. Listing channel locations in the `.condarc` file overrides conda defaults, causing conda to search only the channels listed, in the order specified.

The channels you specify can be *public* or *private*. Private channels will require you to authenticate before you can `conda install` packages from them.

If your organization has configured conda *at the system level* to limit platform users to only access packages in your on-premises repository, **this will override your user-level configuration file**.

To configure conda, create or update your `~.condarc` configuration file in the root directory of your local machine to include your preferred repository channels. For example:

```
channels:
  - <anaconda_dot_org_username>
  - http://some.custom/channel
  - file:///some/local/directory
  - defaults
```

For more information, see [this section](https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/configuration/use-condarc.html#general-configuration) of the conda docs.