NPM stuck giving the same error EISDIR: Illegal op

Question

I am stuck with this error no matter what directory I am in, and what I type after "npm" in cmd.exe. Here is the npm-debug.log:

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js' ]
2 info using npm@2.14.12
3 info using node@v4.2.6
4 verbose stack Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
4 verbose stack     at Error (native)
5 verbose cwd C:\Users\me
6 error Windows_NT 6.1.7601
7 error argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js"
8 error node v4.2.6
9 error npm  v2.14.12
10 error code EISDIR
11 error errno -4068
12 error syscall read
13 error eisdir EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
13 error eisdir This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
13 error eisdir and is related to npm not being able to find a package.json in
13 error eisdir a package you are trying to install.
14 verbose exit [ -4068, true ]

I have tried and uninstalling/reinstalling nodejs multiple times, I even deleted npm and npm-cache folders in C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming. I'm not sure what went wrong to cause this. One second it was working fine, and now I can't get rid of this error. The explanation in the log does not make sense, as it gives this error in any directory. I should note that running a command prompt as administrator does not give this error. I'm pulling my hair out this Friday evening trying to get this fixed, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

If your problem is associated with the React Native packager. Try resetting the cache with react-native start --reset-cache.

Answer 2

I had the same issue on Mac OS X (installed with homebrew), and the .npmrc is not the only place node stored config variables. There is a glocal npmrc config file in /usr/local/etc that you have to edit using this command:

sudo nano npmrc

Remove the ca= line, or whatever the config setting was that broke your install, save that file, and try npm again, and you should see it working.

Answer 3

Had the same problem today after i've upgraded my npm from version 6.4.1 to version 6.5.0. I fixed this by downloading the .pkg installer (recommended for most users) from node.js and runned it afterwards.

Answer 4

EISDIR stands for "Error, Is Directory". This means that NPM is trying to do something to a file but it is a directory. In your case, NPM is trying to "read" a file which is a directory (Line: 4). Since the operation cannot be done the error is thrown.

Three things to make sure here.

1. Make sure the file exists. If it does not, you need to create it. (If NPM depends on any specific information in the file, you will need to have that information there).
2. Make sure it is in fact a file and not a directory.
3. It has the right permissions. You can change the file to have all permissions with "sudo chmod 777 FILE_NAME". (Careful: You are giving Read, Write and Execute permissions to every one on that file)

Answer 5

In my case I was getting the "EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read" because in my .angular-cli.json file I wasn't providing a full path in "scripts:"

For example I had

"scripts": [
        "../node_modules/hammerjs",
        "../node_modules/moment"
      ],

In fact it should have been

"scripts": [
        "../node_modules/hammerjs/hammer.min.js",
        "../node_modules/moment/min/moment.min.js"
      ],

Answer 6

Doing a complete uninstall, including removing paths, etc and reinstalling has solved the problem, very strange problem though.

How to completely remove node.js from Windows