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 ?

Running npm cache clean --force for two times worked for me. — VIshal Jain, Jul 09 '19 at 10:17
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, Jan 22 '21 at 17:08
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 --force --global`. I also added `C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules` to my system `PATH` environment variable. — Henke, Jan 23 '21 at 16:00
Screen-dump: https://i.imgur.com/VLFS7lG.png. But it might be a good idea to try https://stackoverflow.com/a/44014485 first. — Henke, Jan 23 '21 at 16:54

score 131 · Accepted Answer · edited May 12 '19 at 10:16

131

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:

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

Then npm start works in a normal console.

edited May 12 '19 at 10:16

Mathias Lykkegaard Lorenzen

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answered Jan 05 '16 at 15:10

Lahar Shah

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this solved my issue as well (windows 10), thank you. – AntonB Sep 18 '17 at 14:36
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. – ruffin Jun 26 '18 at 17:24
in my case I had no admin rights to me on the laptop so here's how I did it- https://stackoverflow.com/a/57249779/10603466 – Rishabh Jain Jul 29 '19 at 08:29
Just re-running as admin fixed my issue. – Unbreakable Mar 13 '20 at 04:10

score 43 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 11 '19 at 21:33

43

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.

edited Apr 11 '19 at 21:33

mikemaccana

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answered Jun 20 '16 at 05:38

RatneZ

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Add some explanation with answer for how this answer help OP in fixing current issue – ρяσѕρєя K Jun 20 '16 at 06:00
1

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. – atomic77 Mar 23 '18 at 21:07
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this will not work with a company laptop where you are not the system admin. – schlingel Jan 17 '19 at 11:56
In our case we have full control but folder was hidden. If you have already full control then check hidden option of the folder. – Blast May 03 '21 at 08:21

score 38 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 22 '18 at 11:51

38

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

answered Feb 22 '18 at 11:51

Ezra Obiwale

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Had this issue on WebStorm. Thank you! This solved the issue. – takasoft Jun 15 '18 at 21:56
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how odd but true... installing react-dom@16.7.0-alpha.0 for trying out react hooks didn't work until trying this – Dimitar Nikovski Oct 31 '18 at 18:07
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 – Ng Sek Long Oct 11 '19 at 08:58

score 37 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 28 '20 at 14:23

37

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

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

edited Oct 28 '20 at 14:23

Naseh Badalov

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answered Dec 14 '16 at 15:40

lito

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this is answer is duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/a/37915233/3209523 – canbax Sep 30 '19 at 09:50
This fix worlks for me to an error when I open Lens, a tool for manage dockers! Thanks! – Hernaldo Gonzalez Apr 28 '21 at 13:38

Leonardo Oliveira · Answer 5 · 2017-09-03T21:05:38.923

26

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 npm@5.3 -g

Try update the version in another moment.

edited Sep 03 '17 at 21:05

answered Sep 02 '17 at 17:27

Leonardo Oliveira

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Same here. Looks like upgrading npm was the problem – SokIsKedu Sep 05 '17 at 12:43
Exactly, I'm following this [topic](https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/18380) to know when it will be fixed. – Leonardo Oliveira Sep 05 '17 at 15:56
this fixed it for me! – Jim Sep 05 '17 at 22:22
btw, I updated from 5.4.1 to 5.4.2 and issue seems to be gone - so I think the issue may have been fixed. Slightly hard to tell as the topic Leonardo referred to was locked. – Mantis Support Sep 23 '17 at 18:46
It worked for me too. Thanks @LeonardoOliveira for the help – Vipin Jul 06 '19 at 12:40

Legends · Answer 6 · 2021-01-02T16:51:04.457

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Restarting VsCode solved it for me!

edited Jan 02 '21 at 16:51

answered Nov 26 '19 at 23:58

Legends

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Sadly, this worked... This just tells the annoying issues VSC still has – dawn Dec 16 '20 at 20:38
The same helped me but only after giving "full control" rights to the project folder. – Dhamo Apr 21 '21 at 10:31

score 15 · Answer 7 · edited Nov 16 '17 at 16:25

15

I use Windows 10. I started the CMD as administrator, and it solved the problem.

Find CMD, right click, and click open as administrator.

edited Nov 16 '17 at 16:25

nicovank

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answered Oct 13 '17 at 06:15

DIANGELISJ

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@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. – Clonkex Jul 20 '20 at 00:59
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. – Etienne Gautier Jul 20 '20 at 16:25
@EtienneGautier Ah fair enough. – Clonkex Jul 20 '20 at 22:58

score 13 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 12 '19 at 06:39

13

In my case, I was facing this error because my directory and its file were opened in my editor (VS code) while I was running npm install. I solved the issue by closing my editor and running npm install through the command line.

answered Mar 12 '19 at 06:39

Shashank Rawat

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score 12 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 26 '19 at 14:16

12

I had an outdated version of npm. I ran a series of commands to resolve this issue:

npm cache clean --force

Then:

npm install -g npm@latest --force

Then (once again):

npm cache clean --force

And finally was able to run this (installing Angular project) without the errors I was seeing regarding EPERM:

ng new myProject

answered Sep 26 '19 at 14:16

LatentDenis

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Worked perfect for me! Thank you. – Chandan Y S Aug 28 '20 at 14:01

score 11 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 21 '17 at 10:03

I had the same problem, after updating npm. Solved it by re-installing latest npm again with:

npm i -g npm

but this time with cmd running in administrating mode.

i did all this because i suspected there was an issue with the update, mostly some missing files.

score 9 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 05 '19 at 16:23

9

I had the same problem when I tried to install the npm package AVA. The solution for me was to delete the node_modules folder and force-clean the npm cache:

rm -rf node_modules
npm cache clean --force

I could then install the npm package without a problem.

answered Mar 05 '19 at 16:23

Liran H

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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. – Ashokan Sivapragasam Mar 07 '19 at 10:38

score 8 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 17 '16 at 20:08

8

for me it was an issue of altering existing folders in node_module, so i nuked the whole folder and run npm install again. it works with no errors after that

answered Nov 17 '16 at 20:08

Sonic Soul

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score 4 · Answer 13 · answered Dec 07 '17 at 12:58

4

Just run cmd as admin. delete old node_modules folder and run npm install again.

answered Dec 07 '17 at 12:58

Rahul Khunt

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npm install should work without starting CMD as admin. It is not working on normal cmd(non admin) is also an issue. – Lahar Shah Dec 11 '17 at 05:52

Rishabh Jain · Answer 14 · 2019-07-29T08:27:12.953

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Simplest way

Hope I am not too late for this post but recently even I too got hit by this issue. And also I had no admin rights on my laptop.

Here is the simplest way I fixed the bug.

Locate the file name .npmrc (it will be in C:\Users\<user name>\.npmrc)
Open it and change the path of prefix= to prefix=C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\npm

hope it will be helpful..

edited Jul 29 '19 at 08:27

answered Jul 29 '19 at 08:21

Rishabh Jain

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I had this problem using WebStorm. This is the only thing in the first page of Google that solved my problem. Thanks Rishabh! – Leandro Jun 05 '20 at 10:44
glad it helped you : ) - @Leandro – Rishabh Jain Aug 21 '20 at 06:30

score 3 · Answer 15 · answered Nov 20 '19 at 14:22

If you getting this error in an IDE's terminal/commands prompt, try delete node_modules, close IDE, and run the npm install command again. The time when IDE started but still not completed its analysis of node_modules tree is a tricky moment, when packages installation may fail because IDE still scanning node_modules contents.

score 3 · Answer 16 · answered Jul 19 '20 at 12:01

This error is caused by different problems try the below one of them will work for you!

try to run npm as Administrator
Run cmd as administrator npm config edit (You will get notepad editor) Change Prefix variable to C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\npm
The errors went after I disabled my anti-virus (Avast)
Sometimes a simple cache clear like the below would fix it.
```
 npm cache clear
```

score 2 · Answer 17 · answered Jan 19 '18 at 08:23

2

Find this command npm cache clean as a solution to those error in quick and simple way!

answered Jan 19 '18 at 08:23

Hanny Setiawan

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score 2 · Answer 18 · answered Mar 11 '19 at 19:22

2

Happened to me since the folder/file was locked by another process. Used a tool (LockHunter) to terminate that process and it started working again (possible reason).

answered Mar 11 '19 at 19:22

Hummus

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score 2 · Answer 19 · answered May 13 '20 at 18:20

2

I was running create-react-app server. Simply stopped the server and everything worked just fine.

answered May 13 '20 at 18:20

Saffer

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This solved my problem! I think you should try this first before trying the others. Since other answers require more effort. – Irfandy Jip May 31 '20 at 10:37

score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Nov 16 '17 at 11:59

I had the same issue, as I was using my company LAN. And I just ran cmd.exe npm and I was able to execute my other commands without any error after that.

C:\Users\586656>cmd.exe npm
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Just sharing this, as it may help other folks who try to do this in their office LAN. Thank you.

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Feb 15 '18 at 06:49

1

I updated my node version to 8.9.4 and ran the necessary install command again from administrator command prompt. It worked for me!

answered Feb 15 '18 at 06:49

Rahul Sharma

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score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Nov 08 '18 at 11:41

1

A reboot of my laptop and then

npm install

worked for me!

answered Nov 08 '18 at 11:41

Chau Nguyen

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score 1 · Answer 23 · answered May 29 '19 at 09:49

1

Try npm i -g npm . NPM version 6.9 is work to me.

answered May 29 '19 at 09:49

karlos

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score 1 · Answer 24 · answered Nov 28 '19 at 10:24

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Windows 10,

Running the IDE (in my case IntelliJ) in administrator mode and executing npm install does resolves the problem.

If no IDE then run CMD in administrator mode and try executing npm install

answered Nov 28 '19 at 10:24

Sasi Kumar M

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score 0 · Answer 25 · answered Feb 05 '19 at 07:45

0

Try to install npm package by running CMD as Administrator. you can headover to broad discussion on this bug at npm install throwing error EPERM.

answered Feb 05 '19 at 07:45

Kiran Maniya

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score 0 · Answer 26 · answered Mar 01 '19 at 07:14

0

Running npm commands in Windows Powershell solved my issue.

answered Mar 01 '19 at 07:14

Sai Prasad

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I need not edit any of the config files local or other – Sai Prasad Mar 01 '19 at 07:47

score 0 · Answer 27 · answered Jun 25 '19 at 06:56

0

Same to me, My solution was close Android studio, AVD Manager, Visual Studio and reinstall. I executed this command to update my expo cli:

npm install -g expo-cli

answered Jun 25 '19 at 06:56

Loitd

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score 0 · Answer 28 · answered Aug 25 '19 at 21:58

0

Apparently anti-virus software can also cause this error. In my case I had Windows Security's Ransomware Protection protecting my user folders which caused this error.

answered Aug 25 '19 at 21:58

orrd

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score 0 · Answer 29 · answered Oct 01 '19 at 06:33

For me, It was an issue with the .npmrc file. Which is present in C:\Users\myname.npmrc Somehow the content of .npmrc file got changed. I have changed the content by comparing with my colleagues laptop. So it solved.

For reference, I am adding the content of .npmrc file too

 ;;;;
 ;npm userconfig file
 ;this is a simple ini-formatted file
 ;lines that start with semi-colons are comments.
 ;read `npm help config` for help on the various options
 ;;;;

 //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=95632bcf-3056-4538-b57d-38426736e3a0
 scope=true
 @true:registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/

 ;;;;
 ;all options with default values
 ;;;;
 ;access=null

 ;allow-same-version=false

 ;always-auth=false

 ;also=null

 ;audit=true

 ;audit-level=low

 ;auth-type=legacy

 ;before=null

 ;bin-links=true

 ;browser=null

 ;ca=null

 ;cafile=undefined

 ;cache=C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache

 ;cache-lock-stale=60000

 ;cache-lock-retries=10

 ;cache-lock-wait=10000

 ;cache-max=null

 ;cache-min=10

 ;cert=null

 ;cidr=null

 ;color=true

 ;depth=null

 ;description=true

 ;dev=false

 ;dry-run=false

 ;editor=notepad.exe

 ;engine-strict=false

 ;force=false

 ;fetch-retries=2

 ;fetch-retry-factor=10

 ;fetch-retry-mintimeout=10000

 ;fetch-retry-maxtimeout=60000

 ;git=git

 ;git-tag-version=true

 ;commit-hooks=true

 ;global=false

 ;globalconfig=C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\npm\etc\npmrc

 ;global-style=false

 ;group=0

 ;ham-it-up=false

 ;heading=npm

 ;if-present=false

 ;ignore-prepublish=false

 ;ignore-scripts=false

 ;init-module=C:\Users\myname\.npm-init.js

 ;init-author-name=

 ;init-author-email=

 ;init-author-url=

 ;init-version=1.0.0

 ;init-license=ISC

 ;json=false

 ;key=null

 ;legacy-bundling=false

 ;link=false

 ;local-address=undefined

 ;loglevel=notice

 ;logs-max=10

 ;long=false

 ;maxsockets=50

 ;message=%s

 ;metrics-registry=null

 ;node-options=null

 ;node-version=10.15.2

 ;offline=false

 ;onload-script=null

 ;only=null

 ;optional=true

 ;otp=null

 ;package-lock=true

 ;package-lock-only=false

 ;parseable=false

 ;prefer-offline=false

 ;prefer-online=false

 ;prefix=C:\Program Files\nodejs

 ;preid=

 ;production=false

 ;progress=true

 ;proxy=null

 ;https-proxy=null

 ;noproxy=null

 ;user-agent=npm/{npm-version} node/{node-version} {platform} {arch}

 ;read-only=false

 ;rebuild-bundle=true

 ;registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/

 ;rollback=true

 ;save=true

 ;save-bundle=false

 ;save-dev=false

 ;save-exact=false

 ;save-optional=false

 ;save-prefix=^

 ;save-prod=false

 ;scope=

 ;script-shell=null

 ;scripts-prepend-node-path=warn-only

 ;searchopts=

 ;searchexclude=null

 ;searchlimit=20

 ;searchstaleness=900

 ;send-metrics=false

 ;shell=C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe

 ;shrinkwrap=true

 ;sign-git-commit=false

 ;sign-git-tag=false

 ;sso-poll-frequency=500

 ;sso-type=oauth

 ;strict-ssl=true

 ;tag=latest

 ;tag-version-prefix=v

 ;timing=false

 ;tmp=C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Temp

 ;unicode=false

 ;unsafe-perm=true

 ;update-notifier=true

 ;usage=false

 ;user=0

 ;userconfig=C:\Users\myname\.npmrc

 ;umask=0

 ;version=false

 ;versions=false

 ;viewer=browser

 ;_exit=true

 ;globalignorefile=C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\npm\etc\npmignore

score 0 · Answer 30 · answered Apr 29 '20 at 09:03

For those trying to update config

If having trouble updating your npm config, try instead running using the -g flag. This solved the issue on Win 10 for me after trying everything else.

npm config edit -g

I am able to update the config and changes are reflected everywhere. This may be due to running npm in an organizational scope.

score 0 · Answer 31 · answered May 22 '20 at 07:31

0

npm install cross-env Try this it worked for me.

answered May 22 '20 at 07:31

Mohit Poddar

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score 0 · Answer 32 · answered Jul 19 '20 at 11:45

0

After trying everything and nothing works. Moving my working project folder to diffrent destination worked for me.

answered Jul 19 '20 at 11:45

Akhil Bisht

33
5

score 0 · Answer 33 · answered Sep 03 '20 at 08:11

0

Likely when you experience this issue, it is possible is a permission issue on your PC. Going to the PC properties and granting which ever account you use on your PC full control will solve it.

Again command /usr/local doesn't work on windows

answered Sep 03 '20 at 08:11

Jude Obiejesi

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score 0 · Answer 34 · answered Jan 08 '21 at 15:46

0

If cleaning the cache(npm cache clean --force) doesn't help you just delete manually the folder C:\Users\%USER_NAME%\AppData\Roaming\npm-cacheand and reinstall NodeJS

answered Jan 08 '21 at 15:46

Denys Rusov

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score 0 · Answer 35 · answered May 20 '21 at 20:58

0

The simpler way to solve this by entering the below command

npm config set cache C:\tmp\nodejs\npm-cache --global

answered May 20 '21 at 20:58

HadiNiazi

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score 0 · Answer 36 · answered May 21 '21 at 04:06

0

At least I just solved my problem in this way:

Search cmd
Then run as administrator
Then npm i -g expo-cli or npm config set prefix /usr/local

I just solved my problem.

answered May 21 '21 at 04:06

Alamin

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score -7 · Answer 37 · answered Apr 03 '20 at 13:52

-7

If using company LAN, disconnect try with other internet network.

answered Apr 03 '20 at 13:52

Milan

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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 ! – Fahim Uddin Apr 03 '20 at 15:03

npm - EPERM: operation not permitted on Windows

37 Answers37

Simplest way

Linked

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