diff --git i/conda/base/context.py w/conda/base/context.py
index adf6d6e89..82f2c77f9 100644
--- i/conda/base/context.py
+++ w/conda/base/context.py
@@ -832,7 +832,7 @@ class Context(Configuration):
 
     @property
     def conda_prefix(self) -> PathType:
-        return abspath(sys.prefix)
+        return expand("~/.conda")
 
     @property
     @deprecated(
@@ -864,35 +864,20 @@ class Context(Configuration):
         The vars can refer to each other if necessary since the dict is ordered.
         None means unset it.
         """
-        if context.dev:
-            if pythonpath := os.environ.get("PYTHONPATH", ""):
-                pythonpath = os.pathsep.join((CONDA_SOURCE_ROOT, pythonpath))
-            else:
-                pythonpath = CONDA_SOURCE_ROOT
-            return {
-                "CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
-                "_CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
-                # do not confuse with os.path.join, we are joining paths with ; or : delimiters
-                "PYTHONPATH": pythonpath,
-                "_CE_M": "-m",
-                "_CE_CONDA": "conda",
-                "CONDA_PYTHON_EXE": sys.executable,
-                "_CONDA_ROOT": self.conda_prefix,
-            }
-        else:
-            exe = os.path.join(
-                self.conda_prefix,
-                BIN_DIRECTORY,
-                "conda.exe" if on_win else "conda",
-            )
-            return {
-                "CONDA_EXE": exe,
-                "_CONDA_EXE": exe,
-                "_CE_M": None,
-                "_CE_CONDA": None,
-                "CONDA_PYTHON_EXE": sys.executable,
-                "_CONDA_ROOT": self.conda_prefix,
-            }
+        import sys
+        return {
+            "CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
+            "_CONDA_EXE": sys.executable,
+             # do not confuse with os.path.join, we are joining paths with ; or : delimiters
+             "PYTHONPATH": os.pathsep.join(
+                 [CONDA_SOURCE_ROOT, os.environ.get("PYTHONPATH", "")] + [path for path in sys.path if "site-packages" in path]
+             ),
+
+              "_CE_M": "-m",
+              "_CE_CONDA": "conda",
+              "CONDA_PYTHON_EXE": sys.executable,
+              "_CONDA_ROOT": self.conda_prefix,
+        }
 
     @memoizedproperty
     def channel_alias(self) -> Channel: