How to solve npm install error “npm ERR! code 1”

Question

I'm trying to install gulp and when I write npm install I got this issue:

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\node-sass
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c node scripts/build.js
npm ERR! Building: C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node.exe D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js rebuild --verbose --libsass_ext= --libsass_cflags= --libsass_ldflags= --libsass_library=
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp verb cli [
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\nodejs\\node.exe',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   'D:\\www\\wegrow\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   'rebuild',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--verbose',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_ext=',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_cflags=',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_ldflags=',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_library='
npm ERR! gyp verb cli ]
npm ERR! gyp info using [email protected]
npm ERR! gyp info using [email protected] | win32 | ia32
npm ERR! gyp verb command rebuild []
npm ERR! gyp verb command clean []
npm ERR! gyp verb clean removing "build" directory
npm ERR! gyp verb command configure []
npm ERR! gyp verb check python checking for Python executable "python2" in the PATH
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed Error: not found: python2
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at getNotFoundError (D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:13:12)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at F (D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:68:19)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at E (D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:80:29)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:89:16
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\isexe\index.js:42:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\isexe\windows.js:36:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at FSReqCallback.oncomplete (node:fs:194:21)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed  python2 Error: not found: python2
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at getNotFoundError (D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:13:12)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at F (D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:68:19)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at E (D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:80:29)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\which\which.js:89:16
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\isexe\index.js:42:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\isexe\windows.js:36:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at FSReqCallback.oncomplete (node:fs:194:21) {
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed   code: 'ENOENT'
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed }
npm ERR! gyp verb check python checking for Python executable "python" in the PATH
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` succeeded python C:\Python39\python.EXE
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed: C:\Python39\python.EXE -c import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack   File "<string>", line 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack                       ^
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack SyntaxError: invalid syntax
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:326:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:365:28)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1067:16)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Socket.<anonymous> (node:internal/child_process:453:11)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Socket.emit (node:events:365:28)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Pipe.<anonymous> (node:net:661:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.19042
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\nodejs\\node.exe" "D:\\www\\wegrow\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild" "--verbose" "--libsass_ext=" "--libsass_cflags=" "--libsass_ldflags=" "--libsass_library="
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd D:\www\wegrow\node_modules\node-sass
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v16.1.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok
npm ERR! Build failed with error code: 1

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\wbalu\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2021-05-05T10_38_29_779Z-debug.log

I have formatted my computer. Everything was working before. And now when I try to install it, that's what pops-up. I have tried reinstalling node.js but it didn't help. I don't know what should I do.

Solution 1

If your Node version is very recent, try downgrading. Stable version 14.16.1 worked.

Solution 2

try

npm cache clean --force

Delete node_modules and package-lock.json

npm i

Solution 3

I ran into this issue as well. After looking over my setup I saw nothing wrong and deleted the cache and deleted package-lock and still no success.

This was an older website and I tried using update/etc to no avail.

So I took out the entire dependecies portion in my package.json file and just started working my way through installing one at a time.

It works!

Apparently almost all of the versions were a major update behind which was to much for it to update.

Solution 4

Downgrading Node is one option but I don't like the idea of downgrading Node just because one package throws an error. In my opinion, it would be a better approach to find out which package is causing the error and then fix it.

The quick solution

In the line after npm ERR! code 1 you should be able to see npm ERR! path.... In my case the path indicates that there is a problem with the node-sass npm package:

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /home/gignu/GitHub/Movie-Subtitles/node_modules/node-sass
npm ERR! command failed

Now remove this npm package from package.json and see if the installation works. If it works you've found the culprit! In my case, all I had to do to fix it was to upgrade node-sass to the latest version and then run npm i node-sass --force.

// package.json with the outdated dependency

"node-sass": "^4.14.1",

// package.json with the updated dependency

"node-sass": "^7.0.1",

The slow solution

If the previous solution doesn't work for you I would go with @Andrew Fair's solution:

I took out the entire dependencies portion in my package.json file and just started working my way through installing one at a time.

To do this simply copy the whole dependencies section and devDependencies section from package.json and paste it into a text editor as a backup. Then delete all your dependencies and try adding back one dependency at a time. You can also add back several dependencies at a time if you have a lot of them. Each time run npm i and see if it throws an error. Once you've found out which dependency is causing the error try to upgrade that dependency to a newer version and then run npm i --force!

If that doesn't work, try replacing the bad npm package with another one or look on their GitHub repository for solutions.

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