diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index ab505a3dcc5..da7a4317e38 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -118,8 +118,6 @@ jobs:
 - job: Notebook
   pool:
     vmImage: 'ubuntu-18.04'
-  variables:
-    CONDA_ENV: 'server_environment.yml'
   steps:
   - bash: |
       set -e
@@ -127,7 +125,7 @@ jobs:
       bash miniconda.sh -b -p ~/miniconda
       source ~/miniconda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
       conda activate base
-      conda env update --file $CONDA_ENV
+      conda env update --file server_environment.yml
       pip uninstall -yq mne
       pip install -ve .
       pip install pytest pytest-cov pytest-timeout pytest-sugar pytest-xdist flake8 codecov
@@ -164,22 +162,18 @@ jobs:
     PYTHONIOENCODING: 'utf-8'
     MKL_NUM_THREADS: 1
     AZURE_CI_WINDOWS: 'true'
-    CONDA_VERSION: '>=4.3.27'
+    PYTHON_ARCH: 'x64'
   strategy:
     maxParallel: 4
     matrix:
       3.7 conda:
         PLATFORM: 'x86-64'
         TEST_MODE: 'conda'
-        CONDA_ENV: 'environment.yml'
-        PIP_NO_UPGRADE: 'True'
-        PYTHON_VERSION: '3.7'
+        PYTHON_VERSION: '3.8'
       3.7 pip:
-        PYTHON_ARCH: 'x64'
         TEST_MODE: 'pip'
         PYTHON_VERSION: '3.7'
       3.8 pip pre:
-        PYTHON_ARCH: 'x64'
         TEST_MODE: 'pre-pip'
         PYTHON_VERSION: '3.8'
         OPENBLAS_CORETYPE: 'prescott'  # workaround for https://github.com/numpy/numpy/issues/16913
@@ -191,6 +185,13 @@ jobs:
       addToPath: true
     condition: in(variables['TEST_MODE'], 'pip', 'pre-pip')
     displayName: 'Get Python'
+  # https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/ecosystems/anaconda
+  # https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/pipelines-anaconda
+  # Qt 5.9 post-link failure:
+  # https://github.com/ContinuumIO/anaconda-issues/issues/10949
+  - script: echo "##vso[task.prependpath]%CONDA%;%CONDA%\condabin;%CONDA%\Scripts;%CONDA%\Library\bin;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;"
+    condition: in(variables['TEST_MODE'], 'conda')
+    displayName: Add conda to PATH, deal with Qt 5.9 bug
   - bash: |
       set -e
       git clone --depth 1 git://github.com/pyvista/gl-ci-helpers.git
@@ -198,37 +199,31 @@ jobs:
     displayName: Install OpenGL
   - bash: |
       set -e
-      python -m pip install --upgrade pip "setuptools<50.0"
-      python -m pip install --upgrade numpy scipy vtk
-      python -m pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt -r requirements_testing.txt
-      python -m pip install codecov
+      pip install --upgrade pip "setuptools<50.0"
+      pip install --upgrade numpy scipy vtk
+      pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt -r requirements_testing.txt
+      pip install codecov
     condition: eq(variables['TEST_MODE'], 'pip')
     displayName: 'Install dependencies with pip'
   - bash: |
       set -e
-      python -m pip install --upgrade pip "setuptools<50.0"
-      python -m pip install --upgrade --pre --only-binary ":all:" -i "https://pypi.anaconda.org/scipy-wheels-nightly/simple" numpy
-      python -m pip install --upgrade --pre --only-binary ":all:" -f "https://7933911d6844c6c53a7d-47bd50c35cd79bd838daf386af554a83.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com" scipy pandas scikit-learn matplotlib h5py Pillow
-      python -m pip install --upgrade --only-binary vtk vtk;
-      python -m pip install https://github.com/pyvista/pyvista/zipball/master
-      python -m pip install https://github.com/pyvista/pyvistaqt/zipball/master
-      python -m pip install -r requirements.txt -r requirements_testing.txt codecov
+      pip install --upgrade pip "setuptools<50.0"
+      pip install --upgrade --pre --only-binary ":all:" -i "https://pypi.anaconda.org/scipy-wheels-nightly/simple" numpy
+      pip install --upgrade --pre --only-binary ":all:" -f "https://7933911d6844c6c53a7d-47bd50c35cd79bd838daf386af554a83.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com" scipy pandas scikit-learn matplotlib h5py Pillow
+      pip install --upgrade --only-binary vtk vtk;
+      pip install https://github.com/pyvista/pyvista/zipball/master
+      pip install https://github.com/pyvista/pyvistaqt/zipball/master
+      pip install -r requirements.txt -r requirements_testing.txt codecov
     condition: eq(variables['TEST_MODE'], 'pre-pip')
     displayName: 'Install dependencies with pip --pre'
   - powershell: |
       Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
       $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
       $PSDefaultParameterValues['*:ErrorAction']='Stop'
-      $env:PYTHON = '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)' + '\conda'
-      git clone git://github.com/astropy/ci-helpers.git
-      powershell ci-helpers/appveyor/install-miniconda.ps1
-      $env:PATH = $env:PYTHON + ";" + $env:PYTHON + "\Scripts;" + $env:PYTHON + "\Library\bin;" + $env:PATH
-      conda env list
-      conda install numpy scipy matplotlib scikit-learn
-      conda env update --name base --file $env:CONDA_ENV
+      conda update -n base -c defaults conda
+      conda env update --name base --file environment.yml
       pip uninstall -yq mne
       pip install -r requirements_testing.txt codecov
-      Write-Host ("##vso[task.setvariable variable=PATH]" + $env:PATH)
     condition: eq(variables['TEST_MODE'], 'conda')
     displayName: 'Install dependencies with conda'
   - script: python setup.py develop