Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink 'D:\Sources\**\node_modules\fsevents\node_modules\abbrev\package.json'

Question

I just updated npm to 5.4.0.
Now, Whenever I want install a npm package I get the following error:

D:\Sources\DownloadCms\Md.Download\Web.Angular>npm install mds.angular.datetimepicker@latest --save
npm ERR! path D:\Sources\DownloadCms\Md.Download\Web.Angular\node_modules\fsevents\node_modules\abbrev\package.json
npm ERR! code EPERM
npm ERR! errno -4048
npm ERR! syscall unlink
npm ERR! Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink 'D:\Sources\DownloadCms\Md.Download\Web.Angular\node_modules\fsevents\node_modules\abbrev\package.json'
npm ERR!     at Error (native)
npm ERR!  { Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink 'D:\Sources\DownloadCms\Md.Download\Web.Angular\node_modules\fsevents\node_modules\abbrev\package.jso
n'
npm ERR!     at Error (native)
npm ERR!   stack: 'Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink \'D:\\Sources\\DownloadCms\\Md.Download\\Web.Angular\\node_modules\\fsevents\\node_modules\\ab
brev\\package.json\'\n    at Error (native)',
npm ERR!   errno: -4048,
npm ERR!   code: 'EPERM',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'unlink',
npm ERR!   path: 'D:\\Sources\\DownloadCms\\Md.Download\\Web.Angular\\node_modules\\fsevents\\node_modules\\abbrev\\package.json' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Mohammad\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2017-09-03T03_25_50_432Z-debug.log

I'm dead sure, run CMD as administrator.

Also I checked D:\Sources\DownloadCms\Md.Download\Web.Angular\node_modules\fsevents\node_modules\abbrev\package.json\, package.json is not exist in path !

Edit: Upgrade to v5.4.1, still get the same error, even cannot work around with --no-optional :-(

Answer 1

It is an npm 5.4.0 issue https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/18287

Workarounds are

• downgrade to 5.3
• try running with --no-optional, i.e. npm install --no-optional

Answer 2

I was able to fix this by running the command prompt/bash as admin and closing VSCode! Seems like VSCode was locking some files. Potentially something else could be locking these files for you.

Answer 3

If you downgrade to 5.3 and still get the same error in Windows like me.
After hours working with npm versions I found the following solution:

1. Download latest recommended version of nodejs, these days is node-v6.11.3-x64
2. Uninstall nodejs with it.
3. Go to C:\Users\{YourUsername}\AppData\Roaming folder and delete npm and npm-cache folders
4. Run installer of nodejs again and install it
5 Update npm to 5.3 with npm i -g [email protected] command line

Now you should use npm without any issues.

Answer 4

I fixed by downgrading npm from 5.4.0 to version 5.3

npm i -g [email protected]

I Hope this helps for you

Answer 5

I tried this solution found at a How to fix Node.js blog

just use

npm cache clean

in windows if it refuses use

npm cache clean --force

Answer 6

Please close all IDE like visual studio code. run npm install command through node.js command prompt. Enjoy !

Answer 7

cache clean and npm update to latest with force work for me

npm cache clean --force

npm install -g npm@latest --force

Answer 8

I had the same problem on Windows.

The source of the problem is simple, it is access permission on folders and files.

In your project folder, you need

1. After cloning the project, change the properties of the folder and change the permissions of the user (give full access to the current user).
2. Remove the read-only option from the project folder. (Steps 1 and 2 take a long time because they are replicated to the entire tree below).
3. Inside the project folder, reinstall the node (npm install reinstall -g)
4. Disable Antivirus. (optional)
5. Disable Firewall. (optional)
6. Restart PC.
7. Clear the npm cache (npm clear)
8. Install the dependencies of your project (npm install)

After that, error "Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink" will no longer be displayed.

Remember to reactivate the firewall and antivirus if necessary.

Answer 9

I had the same issue and all I needed to do was login to npm

npm login

or alternatively

npm add user // consult the documentation for the params  

Answer 10

In my case, the problem was that, I did not install typescript. Although I did install Node and Angular. To check if you have installed typescript or not

Run this command: tsc -v

If not, then to install typescript

Run this command: npm install -g typescript

And, finally to install required dependencies

Run this command: npm install

in the root folder of the project.

---- Hope this helps someone ----

Answer 11

I had this logs in Windows. I did the following

• Close Visual Studio Code
• Run Command Line as admin

Answer 12

If all of the above failed to work for you, you might want to

• restart your system
• run command prompt as admin
• run the npm command

Answer 13

Deleting package-lock.json fixed it for me.

Answer 14

For me it worked in bash from git package try:

C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe

then:

npm install mds.angular.datetimepicker@latest

Answer 15

There seems to be many solutions out there that worked with downgrading npm versions. For me, the solution was

npm install -force

I tried the downgrading of npm versions, modifying my npm prefix config to match the npm directory, and clearing cache. None of these worked, but apparently they worked for others, so it may be worth a shot.

Answer 16

For me on Windows the problem was too long path length. I moved the project to a smaller length path and it worked.

Answer 17

I'm using VsCode and solved this issue by stopping the application server and them run npm install. There are files that were locked by the application server.

No need to close the IDE, just make sure there's no another process locking some files on your projects.

Answer 18

issuses in npm 5.4

npm install [email protected] -g

Answer 19

Fixed in NPM 5.6.0

Upgrade to NPM 5.6.0 solved problem for me.

Answer 20

I wanted to run npm install from within my external hard drive as this is where i saved my code workspace. Windows 10 OS.

But I was getting the same error as the original post.None of the previous answers worked for me, I tried all of them:

1. uninstalling nodejs then re-installing
2. uninstalling nodejs then downgrading/installing a lower version of nodejs.
3. npm install -force
4. deleting the folders from C:\Users{YourUsername}\AppData\Roaming ... npm and npm-cache then re-installing.
5. npm cache clean --force
6. npm cache clean
7. npm install --g or npm install --global

What worked for me was this:

1. copy the folder from C:\Program Files\nodejs to D:\Program Files\nodejs
2. Then go to Control Panel\System and Security\System
3. Advanced System Settings
4. Environment Variables
5. System Variables
6. Double click Path
7. Add a new path
8. D:\Program Files\nodejs
9. Click ok
10. restart PC.
11. try npm install from within D: Drive

Answer 21

After trying everything, including node/npm upgrade, cache cleaning and reverting code, nothing helped besides one simple thing: Turning OFF Windows 10's Real-time protection during the dev/build. Looks like latest updates made it super aggressive.

Answer 22

Mine was as a result of opening my project folder a 2 different terminals. I solved it by closing all running terminal (vs code was excluded) and executing the installation command again.

I hope this helps someone.

NB: deleting node_modules didn't solve it.

Answer 23

Deleting my node modules folder and running a normal npm install did it for me

Answer 24

I fixed this by removing the dist folder

--- Remove dist or public folder

Answer 25

For windows,

1. Download latest recommended version of nodejs, these days is node-v6.11.3-x64
2. Uninstall nodejs with it.
3. Go to C:\Users\{YourUsername}\AppData\Roaming folder and delete npm and npm-cache folders
4. Run installer of nodejs again and install it
5. By default npm 3.10.10 should be installed along with node-v6.11.3-x64.
6. It worked for me with npm 3.10.10 but did not work with 5.3.X. Also it did not worked with higher versions of node (above node-v6.11.3-x64)

Answer 26

npm cache verify solved my issue. I was doing: ng new my-app and I faced similar error

I have node version: 10.16.0
npm v 6.9.0

Answer 27

My problem was executing the command (npm audit fix all). I solved it when closing VSCODE and re-executed the command without problems.

Answer 28

I simply completely shutdown , NOT hibernated, my machine and restarted it. Ran the CMD as admin and used npm install command. It worked.

Answer 29

In my case, i was facing similar issue while running multiple instance of 'npm install' on VM used for build(Windows)

Since it was a VM used only for build there was no other program locking the files. I tried disabling various antivirus settings which didn't worked. "npm cache clear" and "npm cache verify" worked but it was not a right solution for me as i cannot guess when somebody will trigger a build job from Jenkins for different release/environment leading to multiple instance of 'npm install' and hence i cannot add it to the build script nor i can go login to VM and clear/delete the cache folders manually every time.

Finally, after some research, I ended up running "npm install" with separate cache path for each job using following command:

npm install --cache path/to/some/folder

Since, all the jobs running at the same time now had a separate cache path rather than the common global path (Users/AppData/Roaming/), this issue got fixed as the jobs were no more trying to lock and access the same file, from the common npm cache.

Please note you can install a single package with a cache path as follows:

npm install packageName --cache path/to/some/folder

I was not able to find this way of giving a cache path in npm documentation but i gave it a try and it worked. I am using npm6 and looks like it works since npm5.

[Refer: How to specify cache folder in npm5 on install command?

This solution should work for other scenarios as well though may or may not be a good fit.

Answer 30

npm login is required before publish