1diff --git i/conda/base/context.py w/conda/base/context.py
2index adf6d6e89..82f2c77f9 100644
3--- i/conda/base/context.py
4+++ w/conda/base/context.py
5@@ -832,7 +832,7 @@ class Context(Configuration):
6
7 @property
8 def conda_prefix(self) -> PathType:
9- return abspath(sys.prefix)
10+ return expand("~/.conda")
11
12 @property
13 @deprecated(
14@@ -864,35 +864,20 @@ class Context(Configuration):
15 The vars can refer to each other if necessary since the dict is ordered.
16 None means unset it.
17 """
18- if context.dev:
19- if pythonpath := os.environ.get("PYTHONPATH", ""):
20- pythonpath = os.pathsep.join((CONDA_SOURCE_ROOT, pythonpath))
21- else:
22- pythonpath = CONDA_SOURCE_ROOT
23- return {
24- "CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
25- "_CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
26- # do not confuse with os.path.join, we are joining paths with ; or : delimiters
27- "PYTHONPATH": pythonpath,
28- "_CE_M": "-m",
29- "_CE_CONDA": "conda",
30- "CONDA_PYTHON_EXE": sys.executable,
31- "_CONDA_ROOT": self.conda_prefix,
32- }
33- else:
34- exe = os.path.join(
35- self.conda_prefix,
36- BIN_DIRECTORY,
37- "conda.exe" if on_win else "conda",
38- )
39- return {
40- "CONDA_EXE": exe,
41- "_CONDA_EXE": exe,
42- "_CE_M": None,
43- "_CE_CONDA": None,
44- "CONDA_PYTHON_EXE": sys.executable,
45- "_CONDA_ROOT": self.conda_prefix,
46- }
47+ import sys
48+ return {
49+ "CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
50+ "_CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
51+ # do not confuse with os.path.join, we are joining paths with ; or : delimiters
52+ "PYTHONPATH": os.pathsep.join(
53+ [CONDA_SOURCE_ROOT, os.environ.get("PYTHONPATH", "")] + [path for path in sys.path if "site-packages" in path]
54+ ),
55+
56+ "_CE_M": "-m",
57+ "_CE_CONDA": "conda",
58+ "CONDA_PYTHON_EXE": sys.executable,
59+ "_CONDA_ROOT": self.conda_prefix,
60+ }
61
62 @memoizedproperty
63 def channel_alias(self) -> Channel: