mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n/versions’: Permission denied

Question

When I run npm install n -g on my computer (Ubuntu), I have these errors:

➜  ~  npm install -g n

/home/joes/.nvm/v0.10.38/bin/n ->          /home/joes/.nvm/v0.10.38/lib/node_modules/n/bin/n
[email protected] /home/joes/.nvm/v0.10.38/lib/node_modules/n`

➜  ~  n

mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n/versions ’: Permission denied
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/n/versions ’: Permission denied
find: '/usr/local/n/versions': No such file or directory`
Error: no installed version

Solution

Are you logged in as root user on your ubuntu machine? If not, try running the commands with sudo.

You also may have to chown the /usr/local/n directory to your user.

It's often one of these that cause the permission denied error you're seeing.