diff --git a/ci/deps/azure-windows-37.yaml b/ci/deps/azure-windows-37.yaml
index 66ab307eb3244..5384e794d442a 100644
--- a/ci/deps/azure-windows-37.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/azure-windows-37.yaml
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 name: pandas-dev
 channels:
   - defaults
+  - conda-forge
 dependencies:
   - beautifulsoup4
   - bottleneck
+  - gcsfs
   - html5lib
   - jinja2
   - lxml
diff --git a/ci/incremental/setup_conda_environment.cmd b/ci/incremental/setup_conda_environment.cmd
index db7de503e41b6..63ac815ce0ebc 100644
--- a/ci/incremental/setup_conda_environment.cmd
+++ b/ci/incremental/setup_conda_environment.cmd
@@ -9,15 +9,15 @@ set PIP_INSTALL=pip install -q
 @rem Deactivate any environment
 call deactivate
 @rem Display root environment (for debugging)
-conda list
+call conda list
 @rem Clean up any left-over from a previous build
-conda remove --all -q -y -n pandas-dev
+call conda remove --all -q -y -n pandas-dev
+@rem Upgrade conda
+call conda update conda
 @rem Scipy, CFFI, jinja2 and IPython are optional dependencies, but exercised in the test suite
-conda env create --file=ci\deps\azure-windows-%CONDA_PY%.yaml
+call conda env create --file=ci\deps\azure-windows-%CONDA_PY%.yaml
 
 call activate pandas-dev
-@rem gh-26345: we need to separate this out so that Azure doesn't complain
-conda install -c conda-forge gcsfs
-conda list
+call conda list
 
 if %errorlevel% neq 0 exit /b %errorlevel%