FAQs

The Conformer Generator program requires a Python distribution to be available and set up as the default to run Python scripts on your system. If a suitable Python distribution cannot be found, then the conformer generator may fail with a message relating to Python not being found.

There are two methods to resolve this situation and both require a Python distribution to be available - this can be either your own Python distribution, or the miniconda Python that we include with the CSD Portfolio. We would recommend using the latter.

The two solutions are:

1. Define the Python to be used when running the conformer generator in the command line, using the conformer_generator script as an argument, e.g.

"%USERPROFILE%\CCDC\ccdc-software\csd-python-api\miniconda\python.exe" "%USERPROFILE%\CCDC\ccdc-software\conformer-generator\conformer_generator\conformer_generator.py"

2. The second option is to setup your Python to be the default to run. This can be done via the Windows file associations. To do so, right-click on a Python file (e.g. the conformer_generator.py file) and select Properties. Select Change in the Opens With entry and navigate to the Python you want to use, e.g. "%USERPROFILE%\CCDC\ccdc-software\csd-python-api\miniconda\python.exe". Once done, all .py file should now open the selected Python when you attempt to run them.