npm - EPERM: operation not permitted on Windows

Question

I ran

npm config set prefix /usr/local

After running that command, When trying to run any npm commands on Windows OS I keep getting the below.

Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, mkdir 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\local'
at Error (native)

Have deleted all files from

C:\Users\<your username>\.config\configstore\

It did not work.

Any suggestion ?

Solution 1

Running this command was my mistake.

npm config set prefix /usr/local

Path /usr/local is not for windows. This command changed the prefix variable at 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\local'

To access and make a change to this directory I need to run my cmd as administrator.

So I did:

1. Run cmd as administrator
2. Run npm config edit (You will get notepad editor)
3. Change prefix variable to C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\npm

Then npm start works in a normal console.

Solution 2

This is occurring because windows is not giving permission to the user to create a folder inside system drive. To solve this:

Right Click

The Folder > Properties > Security Tab

Click on Edit to change Permissions > Select the user and give Full Control to that user.

Solution 3

Sometimes, all that's required is to stop the dev server before installing/updating packages.

Solution 4

I solved the problem by changing windows user access for the project folder:

Here is a screenshot: http://prntscr.com/djdn0g

Solution 5

I recently had the same problem when I upgraded to the new version, the only solution was to do the downgraded

To uninstall:

npm uninstall npm -g

Install the previous version:

npm install [email protected] -g

Try update the version in another moment.

View more solutions

Comments

[Nuhman]

Running npm cache clean --force solved the issue for me.

[VIshal Jain]

Running npm cache clean --force for two times worked for me.

[Henke]

Did you run it in the cmd.exe "terminal" (command prompt) or from the GitBash terminal? For me, it failed when I ran it in GitBash but worked fine when I ran it in cmd.

[Henke]

Today I got EPERM even in cmd.exe. But I ran the following command standing in C:\Program Files\nodejs, and it seems to have worked: npm cache clean --force && npm install <package-name> --force --global. I also added C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules to my system PATH environment variable.

[Henke]

Screen-dump: i.imgur.com/VLFS7lG.png. But it might be a good idea to try stackoverflow.com/a/44014485 first.

[Dhamo]

I'd tried all these answers and none worked. Later, I installed a Linux sub-system (WSL) in windows, and I never faced this issue again.

[ρяσѕρєя K]

Add some explanation with answer for how this answer help OP in fixing current issue

[Leonardo Oliveira]

Exactly, I'm following this topic to know when it will be fixed.

[Lahar Shah]

npm install should work without starting CMD as admin. It is not working on normal cmd(non admin) is also an issue.

[atomic77]

Granting the user access to change system folders is not a good idea, especially when this can be easily fixed by changing the prefix to a folder in the user's home directory.

[ruffin]

In my case, I simply uncommented prefix (was ;prefix...) after npm config edit, and Profit. Not sure if that's A Smart Thing, but it worked.

[Dimitar Nikovski]

how odd but true... installing [email protected] for trying out react hooks didn't work until trying this

[schlingel]

this will not work with a company laptop where you are not the system admin.

[Ashokan Sivapragasam]

Yes, I somehow was having node_modules folders in the current working directory. It was throwing that exception when I tried to run angular cli commands 'ng new..'. Deleting node_modules folders helped.

[Rishabh Jain]

in my case I had no admin rights to me on the laptop so here's how I did it- stackoverflow.com/a/57249779/10603466

[canbax]

this is answer is duplicate of stackoverflow.com/a/37915233/3209523

[Ng Sek Long]

To add to this, if you suspect this issue is your dev server running but don't know how to stop it, just logout / restart your windows will always fix this lool

[Unbreakable]

Just re-running as admin fixed my issue.

[Fahim Uddin]

Please first read the question clearly and understand what the problem is, then try to answer with descriptive and related format of how and why your answer can be a possible solution. Hope it helps !

[Clonkex]

@EtienneGautier That's... simply not true at all. What's your proposed solution for modifying system files? If there's any way to do it other than with "administrator permissions" then there's something seriously wrong with the OS's security.

[Etienne Gautier]

Hey @Clonkex, I was assuming that the context was NPM's one (according to the question). Still my comment is not relevant, I'm deleting it. Thank you for your feedback.

[Clonkex]

@EtienneGautier Ah fair enough.

[Blast]

In our case we have full control but folder was hidden. If you have already full control then check hidden option of the folder.

[ben]

As of npm@5 it is recommended if you use npm cache verify AKA a self healing mechanism ; which will ensure everything is consistent

[Aswin Barath]

This answer worked for me, I gave the Full Control permissions to Users from the Security tab of the folder properties

[Louis Somers]

The equivalent to this on a build server would be attrib -R "C:\...\wwwroot\*.*" /S /D (TFS makes everything Read-Only when checked out).

[Ervin Szilagyi]

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review

[Admin]

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