install.keras() in RStudio fails with http connection error - r

Question

I've been trying to install and run keras in RStudio (Windows) in vain.
i installed keras package using normal package "keras"
(didn't use github)
I've installed latest python (3.6) and Anaconda.
then i use
> library(keras)
> install.keras()
and i get this error:
Creating r-tensorflow conda environment for TensorFlow installation...
Fetching package metadata ... CondaHTTPError: HTTP 000 CONNECTION
FAILED for url
https://repo.continuum.io/pkgs/main/win-64/repodata.json.bz2
Elapsed: -
An HTTP error occurred when trying to retrieve this URL. HTTP errors
are often intermittent, and a simple retry will get you on your way.
ConnectTimeout(MaxRetryError("HTTPSConnectionPool(host='repo.continuum.io',
port=443): Max retries exceeded with url:
/pkgs/main/win-64/repodata.json.bz2 (Caused by
ConnectTimeoutError(, 'Connection to repo.continuum.io timed out.
(connect timeout=9.15)'))",),)
Error: Error 1 occurred creating conda environment r-tensorflow In
addition: Warning message: running command
'"C:\PROGRA~3\ANACON~1\Scripts\conda.exe" "create" "--yes" "--name"
"r-tensorflow" "python=3.6"' had status 1
I've looked up everywhere on the web and can't figure out how to install keras and tensorflow properly. Using latest version of R (3.4.2)
Every method fails somewhere.
just to add to misery, i've also tried:
> devtools::install_github("rstudio/keras")
and i get this error:
Installation failed: Timeout was reached: Connection timed out after
10015 milliseconds
I am not behind any authenticated proxies. So, after multiple failure, i just downloaded the zip file from github and manually installed it using the zip file.
i also tried install.packages("keras") and that didn't give me any error either.
when i call the library i don't get any errors (as shown above)
UPDATE: I was able to install and use the package very easily on another computer that doesn't have python/anaconda installed on it already.
UPDATE 2: my proxy does not need authentication and there is no https_proxy either.

Answer 1

OK,, FINALLY found a solution.
Turns out RStudio uses a lot of default proxy settings, so i needed to change all that and set up my own proxy settings.
First step:
Rstudio --> Tools --> Global Options --> packages --> uncheck both "Use secure download method for HTTP" and "Use Internet Explorer librayr/proxy for HTTP"
Second step, in RStudio type:
> file.edit('./.Renviron')
Either an empty file or some file with already existing proxy settings will open. (Mine was empty). Then I included the following two:
http_proxy=http://myusename:password#proxy.server.com:port/
https_proxy=http://myusename:password#proxy.server.com:port/
(a few notes: I didn't have a https_proxy setting but I still needed to use the http_proxy details for my https_proxy setting. This was one of the culprits for my issue. Also, I needed to include the username:password even though my proxy doesn't need secure authentication. Same thing goes with the port. Port number had to be included, otherwise it wouldn't work.
Step 3:
Saved the new changes in .Renviron file and restarted RStudio.
I checked my proxy settings in RStudio after restart by typing:
> Sys.getenv("http_proxy")
> Sys.getenv("https_proxy")
The first few times i did this i realised that the proxy settings were not being changed in RStudio because i was editing the wrong .Renviron file. So, it's best to use file.edit('~/.Renviron') in step 2 to make sure it's the right file.
After all this, when i ran install.keras(), it installed successfully, including installing Tensorflow. Again, initially i had skipped step 1 so keras started being installed but it failed at installing tensorflow.
It was only going through all the steps that i was able to install both keras and tensorflow successfully over a proxy. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Uninstalling Anaconda3 and installing Anaconda2 (i.e. Python 2.7) did the trick for me: https://www.anaconda.com/download/