Bash npm command not found windows

JavaScript and npm are two powerful tools that work together to help you build websites and applications. JavaScript is a programming language that runs in your web browser, and npm is a package manager that helps you install and manage software packages.

One of the many errors that confuses JavaScript beginners is the “npm: command not found” error, which happens when you try to run npm commands such as npm install.

$ npm install -g n
zsh: command not found: npm

In this article, we will show you a few solutions to fix “npm: command not found” in major platforms such as Windows, macOS and Linux. The fix may vary between different operating system and configurations, but the principles remain the same.

There are several things that can trigger the ‘npm command not found’ error:

• npm is not installed: If you’ve downloaded Node.js installer from the official website, npm should be installed already with Node.js. But in order to have a proper setup, follow the advice from npm documentation : We strongly recommend using a Node version manager like nvm to install Node.js and npm. We do not recommend using a Node installer, since the Node installation process installs npm in a directory with local permissions and can cause permissions errors when you run npm packages globally.
• npm is not present in PATH system variable: Most operating systems look for executables and binaries in a specific set of places. The list of all those places is stored in an environment variable, often named PATH.
• Node.js is outdated while npm is up-to-date: One software package that depends on another expects its companion to be in a specific version.
• The current user does not have permission to call npm binary

How to fix “npm command not found” error on Windows

Verify Node.js and npm installation

Before going any further and trying any other solutions, make sure you have Node.js and npm already installed. In order to do so, first, open an elevated PowerShell windows by right-clicking on the Windows icon on the taskbar. and select Windows PowerShell (Admin).

Then, sequenrially run “node -v” and “npm -v” to print out Node.js and npm version number. If both commands returned, then Node.js and npm are already installed on your system. Otherwise, you have to download the installer from https://nodejs.org/en/download/ and run it with administrator rights.

Check PATH system variable for Node.js path

If you have Node.js and npm installed, yet the “npm: command not found” persists, the path where npm binary is placed in may not be added to PATH.

Press Start key on your keyboard or click Start button and search for Edit the system environment variables.

In the System Properties window , switch to Advanced tab and select Environment Variables…

In the Environment Variables window, under System variables, look for Path or PATH system variable, then select Edit….

In the list, look for C:Program Filesnodejs. If it’s not presented in the list, to add the path aforementioned to the PATH system variable

Update Node.js

Make sure you’re using the latest version of Node.js to avoid any serious issues. Upgrading is easy – just follow these simple steps.

1. Right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar. Select Windows PowerShell (Admin).
2. Run the following commands to update Node.js and npm:
   • Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser -Force
   • npm install -g npm-windows-upgrade
   • npm-windows-upgrade
3. After any packages install and update, check your version of Node.js to ensure it’s updated by entering “node -v“.

Fix “npm command not found” error in Linux

There are many Linux distributions available, but for the sake of simplicity, this article will focus on solutions for Ubuntu. Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions and has been around since 2004. It is the perfect choice for those looking for a user-friendly option. You can adapt the instructions below to other Linux distribution as well, including Linux Mint, Fedora, RHEL, etc.

Reinstall npm

If you’ve have already installed nodejs and npm, yet still getting “npm: command not found”, you can try reinstalling it once again by running these commands against a terminal window.

sudo apt-get purge npm node
sudo apt-get install npm node -y
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Reload or restart VSCode

If you’ve installed npm globally on your system, and you’re getting the error message from VSCode terminal, it might be the terminal that didn’t update the VSCode application. Just close all VSCode windows and reopen the application again to reload all of its module – that should be enough to resolve the issue.

Add npm to PATH system variable

Just like Windows, Linux uses the PATH environment variable to find binaries for each command that run against the terminal. Follow these instructions to add npm to PATH :

• Open a terminal window pressing CTRL+ALT+T keyboard combination
• Run which npm to locate the path where npm is placed. You’ll get something like /usr/bin/npm
• Now run export PATH="/usr/bin:$PATH" to add npm binary location to PATH system variable.
• You may have to restart the computer for the changes to take effect.

Install Nodejs and npm using nvm

To install or update nvm, you should run its install script. To do that, you may either download and run the script manually, or use the following cURL or Wget command. Please note that the command is ran

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash
# OR
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash
Code language: PHP (php)

Running either of the above commands downloads the nvm installation script and runs it. The script essentially clones the nvm repository to ~/.nvm, and attempts to add the source lines from the snippet below to the correct profile file (~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, ~/.profile, or ~/.bashrc).

export NVM_DIR="$([ -z "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-}" ] && printf %s "${HOME}/.nvm" || printf %s "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/nvm")"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm
Code language: PHP (php)

At this point, you may need to log out of your account or reboot the computer for the changes to take effect. Once nvm is installed, you can install the current LTS (Long Term Support) version of Node.js and npm with the following command :

nvm install --lts

The output may look something like this.

Installing latest LTS version.
Downloading and installing node v10.16.3...
Downloading https://nodejs.org/dist/v10.16.3/node-v10.16.3-darwin-x64.tar.xz...
######################################################################## 100.0%
Computing checksum with sha256sum
Checksums matched!
Now using node v10.16.3 (npm v6.9.0)
Creating default alias: default -> lts/* (-> v10.16.3)
Code language: PHP (php)

Give the current user permission to npm path

In rare cases, npm: command not found can be the result of users not having the permission to read and execute the binary. You can easily verify this by prefixing any command with sudo to run it with root privileges. For example, sudo npm --v.

This is often the case with Linux and macOS users. In order to fix any permission

sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local/lib/node_modules/
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The command recursively give the current user the permissions to /usr/local/lib/node_modules/, which is where your node packages are placed. After running the above command,  try the npm command you were attempting again.

Fix “npm command not found” error in macOS

Homebrew is a free and open-source software package management system for Apple’s macOS and Linux operating systems, allowing users to easily install software.

While not being pre-installed on every macOS device, it’s a third-party package manager that administrators never knew they needed until they tried it out

The lightweight package manager is based on Ruby and uses GitHub to fetch installs, update apps, and add repositories where developers can add applications to be managed through command-line interfaces.

Currently, this is by far the easiest way you can get Node.js and npm installed on your macOS-based computer.

In order to install Homebrew, carefully copy and paste the one-line installation command and paste it into Terminal.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

If you’re wondering why the command includes /bin/bash instead of ruby like usual, the answer is Homebrew installer has been rewritten in Bash recently to ensure better compatibility.

The Homebrew installer does automatically add brew to PATH, but sometimes, the process may have been interrupted. In that case, you may want to check out our guide on how to fix “brew: command not found” error.

Conclusion

The “npm command not found” error can be a real pain when you’re working to develop an application and need access to an important directory like npm. Without npm, you don’t have access to the libraries for Node.js, which can significantly increase the time it takes to code common features.

If you likes to code in JavaScript, you may be interested in our post on JSON’s end of file expected, which is a very common error that confuses beginners.

Npm (node package manager) helps JavaScript developers focus on the code instead of other — sometimes tedious and repetitive — details. Sometimes, however, you may come across npm errors such as npm command not found.

We will work through how to resolve this error, so you can go back to enjoying all that npm has to offer.

What is the npm command not found Error?

The Npm command not found error can appear when you install or upgrade npm.

On Windows, the cause of this error could be that a PATH or system variable is not correctly set. The error can also occur if you do not have npm or Node.js installed, have an outdated version, or have permission issues.

Mac users seeing the npm command not found error could be due to missing files on your computer or a permissions issue.

This article addresses those possible reasons. First we cover general causes related to installation, then go into Mac-specific solutions, before addressing how to fix a potential missing PATH variable on Windows.

Check if npm is Installed

The npm command requires npm to be installed on Windows. Npm uses Node.js, so it comes included in your Node.js installation package. To check if you have NOde.js installed type the following in the terminal:

The -v stands for “version”. Visit the npm site to verify if the version of npm you have installed is the latest version.

You may have accidentally deleted your npm file or moved its location. This can happen more often than you think, especially if you change your PATH on your system.

Check if npm is installed as well as node by typing the following in your terminal:

If you do have npm installed, it will output the version on your computer. To install npm, run the commands here for Mac and here if you are using Windows.

Update npm

Even though npm comes with Node.js, they are separate, meaning you can have the latest of one and not of the other, since they may have different update release dates.

If you have node (check with $node -v) and your node commands work, you may need to simply update npm. Updating npm can be done with one line:

npm install npm@latest -g

If you have trouble with this command, you may have to prefix it with sudo:

sudo npm install -g npm@latest

If you are working on your code in an editor, make sure to restart it after you’re done installing or updating.

Windows Solution

You may still see npm command not found because C:Program Filesnodejs could be missing from your PATH environment variable.

1. Open global search 🔎 and look up “Environment Variables”.
2. Choose “Edit system environment variables”.
3. Click “Environment Variables” in the “Advanced” tab.
4. In the “System Variables” box, search for Path and edit it to include the path C:Program Filesnodejs. If you don’t see it there click “New” then add this path. (Note: Depending on your version you may just need to edit and append this path to what’s there by prefixing it with a semicolon. You’ll see the other paths there are also separated by semicolons).

Here is some documentation on the Windows settings and environment variables relating to npm in case you are curious and want to read more about the settings.

Permissions Solution

For permission issues, prefix your terminal commands with sudo to bypass issues. Permission issues can be the cause of program files not being able to be properly downloaded. You can also try the following terminal commands as a last option if all others have not worked out for you, though this may not be an option for you if you are on a shared or work computer. For Mac and Linux users:

sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local/lib/node_modules/

This command adjusts the permissions of the npm directory. Chown means change owner, -R means recursively (throughout the files therein), “whoami” grabs your user account name, and the last line is where your node package files are. After running the above command,  try the npm command you were attempting again.

Conclusion

After implementing any changes we went through to troubleshoot the “command not found” error, be sure to restart any open code editor or terminal/command prompt. To recap, the suggested solutions we discussed were:

• updating npm
• checking if node is up to date
• fixing the PATH in Windows
• changing permissions for node 

This article has instructional links on how to uninstall and install npm for Windows or Mac. If you can do this, it may clear any blockers npm is having.

If you want to dive into npm, read this article on npm which includes curated, proven resources for learning more.

If you are trying to work on a project in Node.js, and encountering the error ‘npm command not found’ you may have improperly installed the npm repository. In this article, you will find information about JavaScript, Node.js, and npm, as well as the solution to the ‘npm command not found error’. Step-by-step solutions are provided below for the three major operating systems, Windows, Linux, and Mac.

JavaScript, Node.js, and npm

npm is the package manager that is associated with JavaScript, and specifically the interpreter Node.js. npm is a repository allowing developers to publish their Node.js projects online, where any other developer or community member can access them. The npm repository hosts both open-source and paid packages.

JavaScript is a very popular programming language. JavaScript has been a primary language used to make web applications interactive since HTML5 became standard around 2010. Over the last 10 years, many JavaScript front-end frameworks have been developed, such as Vue, Angular, React, and React Native. A few back-end frameworks have been developed for JavaScript, such as Next, Meteor, and Express. Frameworks allow developers to access a suite of code libraries, to improve development timelines. Instead of writing common code from scratch each time, libraries provide that code already, allowing developers to instead focus their attention on coding custom content and actions.

Node.js is not a back-end or front-end framework, instead Node.js is a runtime environment. Yet, Node.js is the most popular for back-end development of applications. The runtime environment can handle hundreds of calls in the loop simultaneously without waiting for an API to respond. Node.js was developed in 2009 using Google’s V8 JavaScript engine (from Chrome). Since then, Node.js has been adopted by many large companies. Amazon Web Services (AWS) which provides about 33% of all web services, uses Node.js. Walmart, Yahoo!, Microsoft, PayPal, and Netflix are just a few of the other major companies using this runtime environment. 

What causes the ‘npm command not found’ error?

This article has been organized into solutions for different operating systems, to provide an easier way for you to find the solutions that are pertinent to your system. The causes are primarily the same across Windows, Linux, and Mac, but the methods are different.

There are four main causes that can trigger the ‘npm command not found’ error:

1. npm package manager is not installed
   • When you install Node.js on Windows, npm should automatically be included. However if you selected custom install and didn’t select to install the npm package manager, you may not actually have npm on your system.
   • Unlike Windows, npm is not automatically installed on Linux distributions. If you didn’t select to install npm, the error will continue to appear until you install it.
2. PATH and system variables are not set correctly
   • When you install Node.js on Windows, the PATH and system variables are automatically set, but if you selected custom install and didn’t select ‘Add to PATH’ you may have an incorrectly set PATH.
3. Outdated version of Node.js
   • If Node.js is outdated, this can cause the npm package manager commands to fail.

4. A permission issue is preventing the use of npm commands
   • For Mac and Linux operating systems, you may need to adjust permissions for your npm directory.

Windows Operating System

The following solutions are for users and developers trying to solve the ‘npm command not found’ error on a Windows operating system. As Windows 10 is the most updated and supported version of Windows, the step-by-step instructions use Windows 10.

1. Verify/Install Node.js and npm

Before going any further and trying any other solutions, it’s important to verify that Node.js and npm are installed on your system:

1. Right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar. Select Windows PowerShell (Admin).

1. Enter “node -v” and Windows Powershell will print the Node.js version number.
2. Enter “npm -v” to print the npm version number.
3. If both of the above commands report version numbers, then Node.js and npm are on your system.
4. Otherwise, you will need to download the installer for Windows (x64). Run the installer and follow the prompts to install the default settings. Npm package manager should be installed with Node.js, as well as online documentation shortcuts, and it will be added to PATH.

2. Check PATH and system variables

To check and fix PATH and system variables for Node.js on Windows:

1. Click on the Windows icon on the taskbar and search environment variable. Click open for the option listed as Edit the system environment variables.

1. The System Properties window will open. Select the Advanced tab and then Environment Variables…

1. In the Environment Variables window, under System variables, select Path, then Edit…

1. Search the list for C:Program Filesnodejs. If this path doesn’t exist, you need to create a new one.

1. Click New…, then input a Variable name. For the Variable value enter “C:Program Filesnodejs“. Now click OK. 

3. Update Node.js

Outdated versions of Node.js can cause serious issues. To upgrade Node to the latest version:

1. Right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar. Select Windows PowerShell (Admin).
2. Run the following commands to update Node.js and npm:
   • Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser -Force
   • npm install -g npm-windows-upgrade
   • npm-windows-upgrade
3. After any packages install and update, check your version of Node.js to ensure it’s updated by entering “node -v“.

Linux Operating System

There are many Linux distributions available, but for the purpose of simplicity, this article will focus on solutions for Ubuntu. Ubuntu boasts the largest Linux distribution market share and has been around since 2004. Other popular distributions include Manjaro, Linux Mint, and Red Hat, but much of the solutions will be applicable to these distributions as well. The solutions are specifically for Ubuntu 20.04.

Below are four solutions to solve the ‘npm command not found’ error on Ubuntu:

1. Install Node.js and npm

Installing Node.js and npm on Ubuntu is fairly simple:

1. Open a terminal window pressing CTRL+ALT+T simultaneously. Alternatively you can navigate to the Activities menu and search terminal, then clicking on the resulting icon for terminal.
2. Type the following commands:
   • sudo apt update
   • sudo apt install nodejs npm
3. When the packages are finished installing, you can verify that both Node.js and npm are installed by entering:
   • node –version
   • npm –version

In this solution, the sudo command gives the user elevated permissions (the same as an administrator). Now that Node.js and npm have been installed and verified, you can attempt to run an npm command.

2. Check PATH and system variables

You now know that npm is correctly installed on your system. Next we will verify the default path for the npm command:

1. Open a terminal window pressing CTRL+ALT+T simultaneously. Alternatively you can navigate to the Activities menu and search terminal, then click on the resulting icon for terminal.
2. To check the current path for npm commands enter “which npm“.
3. The /etc/environment file needs to be checked for the file path from above, which may look something like /usr/bin/npm. Enter “cat /etc/environment“.
4. This will give you a readout of your environment variable. You want to find the same file path from step 2, in your environmental variable. If not, continue on to add the npm path.
5. To edit the /etc/environment file enter “vi /etc/environment“.
6. Now you need to add a colon(:) and the npm path from step 2 to the end of the environmental file. This path file should end at ‘bin’. Make sure this path is before the end of the quotes.
7. Enter “source /etc/environment” to reload the file with the changes.

3. Give User Permissions to Run Commands

Linux has been designed to be a secure operating system, because most applications have very limited permissions. Sometimes this can cause interference with how programs work. To give yourself permissions to edit node modules (where npm is located):

1. Open a terminal window pressing CTRL+ALT+T simultaneously. Alternatively you can navigate to the Activities menu and search terminal, then click on the resulting icon for terminal.
2. Enter “sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local/lib/node_modules/“.
3. Attempt to run an npm command and see if the problem reoccurs.

4. Update Node.js

Finally, older outdated versions of Node.js can cause version issues. To upgrade Node to the latest version, you will use npm:

1. Open a terminal window pressing CTRL+ALT+T simultaneously. Alternatively you can navigate to the Activities menu and search terminal, then click on the resulting icon for terminal.
2. Enter “sudo npm cache clean -f” to clear your current cache so that there are no problems accessing the correct file path, if you changed it in the second solution.
3. Now enter “sudo npm install npm@latest -g“.
4. You can verify that Node updated to the latest version by entering “npm -v“.

MacOS

1. Install Node.js and npm

Homebrew is a highly popular package manager for MacOS. If you have Homebrew installed on your Mac computer, it is very easy to install Node.js. You should strongly consider downloading Homebrew if you don’t have it. This solution will show you how to install Homebrew, as well as Node.js and npm:

1. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, then search for Terminal. Click the result for Terminal.
2. Type in the following command into your Terminal window to install Homebrew:
   • /bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)”
3. Then enter:
   • brew update
   • brew install node
4. To verify that both are installed, enter “node -v” and “npm -v” to confirm the version of both Node.js and npm.
5. Check if the ‘npm command not found’ error remains.

Alternatively you can find and use the Node.js installer for macOS.

2. Check PATH and system variables

For macOS, npm is usually found under /usr/local/bin. To check your PATH variable:

1. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, then search for Terminal. Click the result for Terminal.
2. Into the terminal enter echo $PATH, to display your PATH variable.
3. Now enter “npm get prefix“. Compare the two outputs. Most likely the npm get prefix command will report /usr/local/bin. This should also be found in your PATH variable.
4. If the prefix is NOT found in the PATH variable, it needs to be set. To set your PATH enter “export PATH=”[prefix]/bin:$PATH” >> ~/.bash_profile“. [prefix] is the value returned in step 3. Now enter “source ~/.bash_profile“.
5. Check to see if the ‘npm command not found’ error is now resolved by trying the same command that failed previously.

3. Give User Permissions to Run Commands

MacOS shares a lot of similarities with Linux. Like Linux, you may need to give yourself permissions to edit node modules to bypass this error:

1. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, then search for Terminal. Click the result for Terminal.
2. Enter “sudo chown -R $(whoami):admin /usr/local/lib/node_modules/“.
3. Attempt to run an npm command and see if the problem reoccurs.

4. Update Node.js and npm

If you installed Homebrew from the first MacOS solution, this will be extremely simple. If you don’t have Homebrew or another package manager like Nvm or N, you need to visit the Node.js website to find the newest installer for the updated version. Make sure to follow the default installation settings and don’t choose custom install unless you know what you are doing.

1. If you have Homebrew, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, then search for Terminal. Click the result for Terminal.
2. Enter “brew upgrade node“.
3. That’s it! Double-check by entering “node -v” and “npm -v” to ensure you are up-to-date.

Key Takeaway

The ‘npm command not found’ can be a major pain when you are working to develop an application and can’t access an important directory like npm. Without npm you don’t have access to the libraries for Node.js, and will spend significant extra time coding simple and common features by hand.

This article was broken down into three major sections for the operating systems Windows, Linux, and MacOS. This was to allow you easy access to solutions that would be helpful for your system, without requiring you to wade through non-useful information.

The four primary causes of the ‘npm command not found’ error are Node.js and/or npm not installed, path and system variables not set properly, outdated Node.js, and permissions conflicts. The solutions across all three operating systems are fairly simple and straightforward. If you were not familiar with command line (terminal, bash, etc) commands, you may have learned some useful commands in these solutions. Let us know in the comments section which solution worked, or if we have left out anything!