Salt minion on Windows gets an error like python311.dll conflicts with this version of python

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

Salt Minion won’t start and shows an error:

"python311.dll conflicts with this version of python"

This indicates a mismatch between the Python version Salt Minion expects and the one being loaded.

Environment

Aria Config - all versions

Tanzu Salt - all versions

SaltProject - all versions

Cause

The cause is usually due to a misconfigured global environment variable. 

Resolution

As of Salt 3006.0, SaltProject bundles the master and minion with their own Python interpreter using the relenv project. This Python interpreter still uses any global environment variables if set. PYTHONPATH is a known variable that may need to be altered for a Python based application to run properly. However, this should not be set globally as it will interfere will all Python based applications including YUM/DNF if running a RHEL derivative of Linux. Further, this setting is not necessary for Salt to operate normally. Please consult with your 3rd party vendor on how to set this environment variable properly for the application.