npm always using home directory as current working

Question

npm insists on using my home directory as the current working directory, no matter which directory I am executing commands from.

Happens with both cmd and Powershell, I've tried removing and reinstalling node, both using the installer on nodejs.org, and via Chocolatey with the same result.

If I navigate to e.g. C:\test and run npm init, the wizard places the resulting package.json file in my home folder.

If I run npm install <package> from any folder, the package is installed to C:\Users\myusername\node_modules

Trying to install a package globally also fails, with this

npm ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
npm ERR! command "C:\\ProgramData\\chocolatey\\lib\\nodejs.commandline.0.10.33\\tools\\node.exe" "C:\\ProgramData\\chocolatey\\lib\\npm.1.4.9\\tools\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" "gulp" "-g"
npm ERR! cwd C:\Users\<myusername>

If I navigate to a folder, start the node REPL and run process.cwd() the directory I started node from is returned, so the issue seems to be limited to npm.

Running npm get gives this result:

C:\test> npm get
; cli configs
registry = "https://registry.npmjs.org/"
user-agent = "npm/1.4.9 node/v0.10.33 win32 x64"

; node bin location = C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\nodejs.commandline.0.10.33\tools\node.exe
; cwd = C:\Users\<myusername>
; HOME = C:\Users\<myusername>
; 'npm config ls -l' to show all defaults.

I've searched quite a bit for a solution, and have found some similar issues, but none that solved my problem. I know that npm walks up the directory tree to look for a node_modules folder, but this happens in folders outside my home directory as well.

Any tips on what I try to resolve this?

Answer 1

Not 100% sure but I think you'll get this if when you don't have a package.json file. Try to create one (npm init) then try installing any modules. Should then save them under node_modules of whatever current directory you're in.

Answer 2

Turns out I had a cd C:\Users\<myusername> command in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun in the registry. Meaning that this command was executed any time CMD.EXE started.

No idea how that got in there, I might have added it myself at some point.

Anyway, if someone experiences differences between the current working directory when executing a script and when running the same command manually in an open command prompt, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRunare good places to check.