Installing Node.js (and npm) on Windows 10

Question

I had some issues trying to install Node on Windows 10 and found the solution.

The error was as follows:

C:\Users\Stephan>npm
Error: ENOENT, stat 'C:\Users\Stephan\AppData\Roaming\npm'

The solution is below.

Answer 1

The reason why you have to modify the AppData could be:

1. Node.js couldn't handle path longer then 256 characters, windows tend to have very long PATH.
2. If you are login from a corporate environment, your AppData might be on the server - that won't work. The npm directory must be in your local drive.

Even after doing that, the latest LTE (4.4.4) still have problem with Windows 10, it worked for a little while then whenever I try to:

$ npm install _some_package_ --global 

Node throw the "FATAL ERROR CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - process out of memory" error. Still try to find a solution to that problem.

The only thing I find works is to run Vagrant or Virtual box, then run the Linux command line (must matching the path) which is quite a messy solution.

Answer 2

I had the same problem, what helped we was turning of my anti virus protection for like 10 minutes while node installed and it worked like a charm.

Answer 3

New installers (.msi downloaded from https://nodejs.org) have "Add to PATH" option. By default it is selected. Make sure that you leave it checked.

Answer 4

In addition to the answer from @StephanBijzitter I would use the following PATH variables instead:

%appdata%\npm
%ProgramFiles%\nodejs

So your new PATH would look like:

[existing stuff];%appdata%\npm;%ProgramFiles%\nodejs

This has the advantage of neiter being user dependent nor 32/64bit dependent.

Answer 5

Edit: It seems like new installers do not have this problem anymore, see this answer by Parag Meshram as my answer is likely obsolete now.

Original answer:

Follow these steps, closely:

• http://nodejs.org/download/ download the 64 bits version, 32 is for hipsters
• Install it anywhere you want, by default: C:\Program Files\nodejs
• Control Panel -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables
• Select PATH and choose to edit it.

If the PATH variable is empty, change it to this: C:\Users\{YOUR USERNAME HERE}\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Program Files\nodejs

If the PATH variable already contains C:\Users\{YOUR USERNAME HERE}\AppData\Roaming\npm, append the following right after: ;C:\Program Files\nodejs

If the PATH variable contains information, but nothing regarding npm, append this to the end of the PATH: ;C:\Users\{YOUR USERNAME HERE}\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Program Files\nodejs

Now that the PATH variable is set correctly, you will still encounter errors. Manually go into the AppData directory and you will find that there is no npm directory inside Roaming. Manually create this directory.

Re-start the command prompt and npm will now work.

Answer 6

Everything should be installed in %appdata% (C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming), not 'program files'.

Here's why...

The default MSI installer puts Node and the NPM that comes with it in 'program files' and adds this to the system path, but it sets the user path for NPM to %appdata% (c:\users[username]\appdata\roaming) since the user doesn't have sufficient priveleges to write to 'program files'.

This creates a mess as all modules go into %appdata%, and when you upgrade NPM itself - which NPM themselves recommend you do right away - you end up with two copies: the original still in 'program files' since NPM can't erase that, and the new one inn %appdata%.

Even worse, if you mistakenly perform NPM operations as admin (much easier on Windows then on *nix) then it will operate on the 'program files' copy of NPM node_modules. Potentially a real mess.

So, when you run the installer simply point it to %appdata% and avoid all this.

And note that this isn't anything wierd - it’s what would happen if you ran the installer with just user priveleges.