Node.js/Windows error: ENOENT, stat 'C:\Users\RT\AppData\Roaming\npm'

Question

I have Windows 7 32-bit. I installed the latest Node.js 32 bit.
When I try to run the command npm install jquery, I receive the error:

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

How does one resolve it?

Solution 1

Manually creating a folder named 'npm' in the displayed path fixed the problem.

More information can be found on Troubleshooting page

Solution 2

I ran into the same problem while installing a package via npm.

After creating the npm folder manually in C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\ that particular error was gone, but it gave similar multiple errors as it tried to create additional directories in the npm folder and failed. The issue was resolved after running the command prompt as an administrator.

Solution 3

This can also be fixed by installing a node package manually.

npm install npm -g

The process of doing that will setup all the required directories.

Solution 4

I recommend setting an alternative location for your npm modules.

npm config set prefix C:\Dev\npm-repository\npm --global 
npm config set cache C:\Dev\npm-repository\npm-cache --global  

Of course you can set the location to wherever best suits.

This has worked well for me and gets around any permissions issues that you may encounter.

Solution 5

You can go to the Start Menu and search the Node.js icon and open the shell and then install anything with

install <packagename> -g

View more solutions

Comments

[skjagini]

Try running the command prompt as administrator.

[James Westgate]

Run command prompt as administrator, and create the folder.

[codersaif]

To remember the error, you can read it like "Error: NO ENTry". So check the directory whether it exists, otherwise create a new one. If there's no access, you can run the command prompt as administrator. Though for no access error node.js normally arise EACCESS error.

[Frank Nocke]

Googlers, also note, that you can get this message as an ‘not found answer’ to small path typos, i.e. res.sendfile('pathSlightlyWrong/posts.html') (experienced under Windows 7)

[Natesh bhat]

My Unhandled event error got fixed in this answer stackoverflow.com/a/52441411/6665568

[amcdnl]

Seems like a bug on the instller.

[Roman Starkov]

Is this bug in some tracker? This makes for an awful first experience with nodejs...

[Sahas Katta]

This appears a bug with a recent release of Node.js. It wasn't an issue a few months ago. I had to manually create the folder to make it work on Windows 8.1 x64.

[David Ebbo]

It's being tracked by github.com/npm/npm/issues/5905, so you can subscribe to that issue to see progress.

[maryo]

After creating the missing directory, you can set the prefix to the right path using npm config get prefix / npm config set prefix xxxxx. Then you can remove the created directory again.

[Dnaso]

I logged in just to one up this.

[Catalyst]

@Dnaso, same here -- still relevant to latest download

[KFL]

I can confirm that this works on my laptop with 64bit Node, while the error reproduces on the Dell Venue with 32bit Node.

[Chad]

For those who land here later, this is a reported issue at npm/npm#5905 and joyent/node#8117

[Jonathan Livni]

I would introduce such a bug just to get the >3K points for this answer on SO :)

[ladieu]

GREAT! Wow.. what a frustrating bug. Thanks for the easy fix

[adam-p]

I had to delete the existing npm directory and then re-create it.

[Velter]

Had the same problem on Windows 7 64bit. Still not fixed. Maybe it has something to do with running cmd without admin rights?

[robsn]

Manually creating the directory and/or running the command as admin didn't work for me on Win7/64. I ran 'npm install [stuff]' without '-g' which worked. Now it also accepts '-g'.

[Aniket Thakur]

Yeah same for me - Win7 and 64 bit. You need to create new folder and then execute npm command on command prompt run as administrator.

[Sliq]

btw 3 months later it's still not fixed :(

[eran otzap]

still an issue on windows 7 and windows 8.1 , i always arrive here after installing node :)

[Nate]

Same thing for me in Windows 10. Thanks for the tip.

[Justin Russo]

This is the only one that worked for me. Need to use -g for 'Global Mode' so it installs the packages into your <nodejs application path>. It will place them in the 'node_modules' folder. Otherwise, it will run in local mode and attempt to place the files and directories into the whichever path you are currently in. Sometimes, even running as administrator, you will run into directory access issues.

[RyGuy]

This is the only solution that worked for me as well running Win 8.1 with the 64-bit installer. Thanks!

[Dennkster]

This is the cleanest solution!

[aliteralmind]

@maryo: Can you please clarify: "After creating the missing directory, you can set the prefix to the right path using npm config get prefix / npm config set prefix xxxxx. Then you can remove the created directory again." What's the "right" path?

[maryo]

I've set it to D:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm but that's because i use only one user account, previously it was set to something in C:\Users\

[Ed Sykes]

this also worked when hitting the same problem on OSX, albeit with a different file path

[Vicky Zhang]

My error path is 'path/to/out.min.js' and I just named a new folder called 'out.min.js' and it worked!! I'm still confused why that works, but it does...

[torrao]

for me what worked was, manually create a '.npm_modules' folder, because I already had the 'npm' folder

[Jens Stigaard]

It worked after reinstalling node, removing npm and npm-cache folders in C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\ and added the folders again in command prompt as an admin.