Failed to exec start script

Question

Angular: 5.0.1 / Angular CLI: 1.5.0 / Node: 8.9.1 / npm: 5.5.1 / Os: win32 x64

I get the below error when executing "npm start" in the terminal/command prompt. Can anyone help me resolve this? I have spent a whole day trying to fix it with no luck.

Here is the scripts section of my package.json

"scripts": {
    "start": "webpack-dev-server --inline --progress --port 8080"
  },

webpack.config.js

module.exports = require('./config/webpack.dev.js');

webpack.common.js

var webpack = require('webpack');
var HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin');
var ExtractTextPlugin = require('extract-text-webpack-plugin');
var helpers = require('./helpers');

module.exports = {
  entry: {
    'polyfills': './src/polyfills.ts',
    'vendor': './src/vendor.ts',
    'app': './src/main.ts'
  },

  resolve: {
    extensions: ['.ts', '.js']
  },

  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.ts$/,
        loaders: [
          {
            loader: 'awesome-typescript-loader',
            options: { configFileName: helpers.root('src', 'tsconfig.json') }
          } , 'angular2-template-loader'
        ]
      },
      {
        test: /\.html$/,
        loader: 'html-loader'
      },
      {
        test: /\.(png|jpe?g|gif|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot|ico)$/,
        loader: 'file-loader?name=assets/[name].[hash].[ext]'
      },
      {
        test: /\.css$/,
        exclude: helpers.root('src', 'app'),
        loader: ExtractTextPlugin.extract({ fallbackLoader: 'style-loader', loader: 'css-loader?sourceMap' })
      },
      {
        test: /\.css$/,
        include: helpers.root('src', 'app'),
        loader: 'raw-loader'
      }
    ]
  },

  plugins: [
    // Workaround for angular/angular#11580
    new webpack.ContextReplacementPlugin(
      // The (\\|\/) piece accounts for path separators in *nix and Windows
      /angular(\\|\/)core(\\|\/)@angular/,
      helpers.root('./src'), // location of your src
      {} // a map of your routes
    ),

    new webpack.optimize.CommonsChunkPlugin({
      name: ['app', 'vendor', 'polyfills']
    }),

    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: 'src/index.html'
    })
  ]
};

webpack.dev.js

var webpackMerge = require('webpack-merge');
var ExtractTextPlugin = require('extract-text-webpack-plugin');
var commonConfig = require('./webpack.common.js');
var helpers = require('./helpers');

module.exports = webpackMerge(commonConfig, {
  devtool: 'cheap-module-eval-source-map',

  output: {
    path: helpers.root('dist'),
    publicPath: '/',
    filename: '[name].js',
    chunkFilename: '[id].chunk.js'
  },

  plugins: [
    new ExtractTextPlugin('[name].css')
  ],

  devServer: {
    historyApiFallback: true,
    stats: 'minimal'
  }
});

webpack.prod.js

var webpack = require('webpack');
var webpackMerge = require('webpack-merge');
var ExtractTextPlugin = require('extract-text-webpack-plugin');
var commonConfig = require('./webpack.common.js');
var helpers = require('./helpers');

const ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV = process.env.ENV = 'production';

module.exports = webpackMerge(commonConfig, {
  devtool: 'source-map',

  output: {
    path: helpers.root('dist'),
    publicPath: '/',
    filename: '[name].[hash].js',
    chunkFilename: '[id].[hash].chunk.js'
  },

  plugins: [
    new webpack.NoEmitOnErrorsPlugin(),
    new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({ // https://github.com/angular/angular/issues/10618
      mangle: {
        keep_fnames: true
      }
    }),
    new ExtractTextPlugin('[name].[hash].css'),
    new webpack.DefinePlugin({
      'process.env': {
        'ENV': JSON.stringify(ENV)
      }
    }),
    new webpack.LoaderOptionsPlugin({
      htmlLoader: {
        minimize: false // workaround for ng2
      }
    })
  ]
});

Here is the error

0 info it worked if it ends with ok 1 verbose cli [ 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe', 1 verbose cli 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js', 1 verbose cli
'start' ] 2 info using [email protected] 3 info using [email protected] 4 verbose run-script [ 'prestart', 'start', 'poststart' ] 5 info lifecycle [email protected]~prestart: [email protected] 6 info lifecycle [email protected]~start: [email protected] 7 verbose lifecycle [email protected]~start: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true 8 verbose lifecycle [email protected]~start: PATH: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin;C:\Users\cbonsu\Downloads\sample_pro\webpack\node_modules.bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\130\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Client SDK\ODBC\130\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\Client SDK\ODBC\130\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\;C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile.dnx\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft DNX\Dnvm\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\Program Files\nodejs\;C:\Users\cbonsu\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\cbonsu\AppData\Roaming\npm 9 verbose lifecycle [email protected]~start: CWD: C:\Users\cbonsu\Downloads\sample_pro\webpack 10 silly lifecycle [email protected]~start: Args: [ '/d /s /c', 10 silly lifecycle 'webpack-dev-server --inline --progress --port 8080' ] 11 silly lifecycle [email protected]~start: Returned: code: 1 signal: null 12 info lifecycle [email protected]~start: Failed to exec start script 13 verbose stack Error: [email protected] start: webpack-dev-server --inline --progress --port 8080 13 verbose stack Exit status 1 13 verbose stack at EventEmitter. (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\index.js:280:16) 13 verbose stack at emitTwo (events.js:126:13) 13 verbose stack
at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:214:7) 13 verbose stack at ChildProcess. (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\lib\spawn.js:55:14) 13 verbose stack at emitTwo (events.js:126:13) 13 verbose stack
at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:214:7) 13 verbose stack at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:925:16) 13 verbose stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:209:5) 14 verbose pkgid [email protected] 15 verbose cwd C:\Users\cbonsu\Downloads\sample_pro\webpack 16 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.15063 17 verbose argv "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js" "start" 18 verbose node v8.9.1 19 verbose npm v5.5.1 20 error code ELIFECYCLE 21 error errno 1 22 error [email protected] start: webpack-dev-server --inline --progress --port 8080 22 error Exit status 1 23 error Failed at the [email protected] start script. 23 error This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above. 24 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Answer 1

it should make it

npm cache clean --force

npm install

npm start 

Answer 2

I simply got this issue resolved by verifying and cleaning cache, then updating npm to latest version.

npm cache verify
npm install
npm start

Answer 3

If npm clean cache --force npm install npm start didn't work for you. Try rename the root folder. It's stragnely work for me.

Answer 4

I have discovered an easier approach to this. Discard the "npm start" and webpack approach altogether and use angular-cli. With angular-cli, calling "ng build --prod" handles everything (aot etc). Behind the scene it uses webpack but it handles all the complications involved so developers don't have to.

Answer 5

To fix the dependency tree, try following the steps below in the exact order:

1. Delete package-lock.json (not package.json!) and/or yarn.lock in your project folder.
2. Delete node_modules in your project folder.
3. Remove "webpack-dev-server" from dependencies and/or devDependencies in the package.json file in your project folder.
4. Run npm install or yarn, depending on the package manager you use.