Python tool fails to load when 'Disable Auto Configure' selected in user settings

[klonergan]

When opening a saved workflow in Designer, the python tool does and jupyter notebook do not load, and instead displays a "404: Not Found" error.  This is resolved by refreshing the meta-data (or running the workflow).  But the message is confusing and would ideally be handled differently. 

[LydiaHoang]

I'm getting the same error when I didn't the other day and I don't know how to fix this.  I've got python 3.8.6 installed and I can't even run simple commands like import pandas and import numpy