Running npx globally does not work on Windows when the user folder patch contains a space

[GrimzEcho]

This may be related to issue #110, but I believe it is separate. However, I have tried the various fixes suggested in that thread.

When running npx (with any arguments, but -v is easiest to test) from the global install folder, the following error is produced.

npm ERR! code ENOLOCAL
npm ERR! Could not install from "Echo\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_npx\14184" as it does not contain a package.json file.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Grim Echo\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2018-01-03T00_26_34_241Z-debug.log

It seems that npx is not properly escaping any spaces contained in the npm config prefix variable.

$ npm config list
metrics-registry = "https://registry.npmjs.org/"
scope = ""
user-agent = "npm/5.5.1 node/v9.3.0 win32 x64"

; userconfig C:\Users\Grim Echo\.npmrc
prefix = "C:\\Users\\Grim Echo\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm"

; builtin config undefined

; node bin location = C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe
; cwd = D:\gdrive\Projects\Web\React\test_1
; HOME = C:\Users\Grim Echo
; "npm config ls -l" to show all defaults.

The full error log file

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   'install',
1 verbose cli   'prefix@latest',
1 verbose cli   '--global',
1 verbose cli   '--prefix',
1 verbose cli   'C:\\Users\\Grim',
1 verbose cli   'Echo\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm-cache\\_npx\\16608',
1 verbose cli   '--loglevel',
1 verbose cli   'error',
1 verbose cli   '--json' ]
2 info using [email protected]
3 info using [email protected]
4 verbose npm-session 276140a6271ea49d
5 silly install loadCurrentTree
6 silly install readGlobalPackageData
7 silly fetchPackageMetaData error for file:Echo\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_npx\16608 Could not install from "Echo\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_npx\16608" as it does not contain a package.json file.
8 http fetch GET 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/prefix 46ms (from cache)
9 silly pacote tag manifest for prefix@latest fetched in 87ms
10 verbose stack Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'D:\gdrive\Projects\Web\React\test_1\Echo\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_npx\16608\package.json'
11 verbose cwd D:\gdrive\Projects\Web\React\test_1
12 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.16299
13 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" "prefix@latest" "--global" "--prefix" "C:\\Users\\Grim" "Echo\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm-cache\\_npx\\16608" "--loglevel" "error" "--json"
14 verbose node v9.3.0
15 verbose npm  v5.5.1
16 error code ENOLOCAL
17 error Could not install from "Echo\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_npx\16608" as it does not contain a package.json file.
18 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Note lines 1, 13, and 17.

Notice how the path is split on lines 1, and how the space is improperly escaped on line 13. The entire path needs to be in a string, but npx seems to be splitting it into two strings.

This issue seems specific to npx, as other npm commands seem to use the prefix directory correctly.

This is running npx 9.6.0 on node 9.3.0 on Windows 10.

The issue does not happen when the user directory contains no spaces, or when running npx locally from within a project folder.

[valuka]

I have exactly same issue with npx due to space in path.
npm works fine.

[ArthurAttout]

Any fix for this ?

[rivajunior]

I have found a workaround.
First you can rename your user on Windows, but it don't rename the user folder yet.
The commands to do this is: Windows + R then type control userpasswords2. Now click on your user and after click on properties and rename your user name.

After do this, comes the hard part:

Press Windows + X and open Windows Power Shell as Administrator.
After this, type net user administrator \active:yes. (the name administrator can change with your language system)
Now you can exit from your user and log-in into Administrator user.
Go to folder C:\Users\Your User Name, and rename for the name that you want.

Be careful with this part:

Press Windows + R to open regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\. finde your user and rename for the new name.

you can find that steps here.

For me, this was worked fine

[PhiLhoSoft]

OK, I was excited to see this npx, it looked very interesting, but this bug makes it just unusable. Too bad.
Renaming the user name is not an option for me, alas.

[keerotic]

you can change "npm-cache" folder to anothor path,
using command :
"npm config set cache C:\tmp\nodejs\npm-cache --global"

[keerotic]

if you want to use current path that has space in username "C:\Users\Firstname Lastname\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache"
you can replace the string after space with "~1"

npm config set cache "C:\Users\Firstname~1\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache" --global

[zkat]

This is a duplicate of #100

[philson-philip]

The above error is due the white space contain in your username of PC. The command npx create-react-app doesn't work in this situation and shows error. I have fixed the error and created my first react app.
https://github.com/philson-philip/react-skills
Check the above link for solving the problem and creating your first app with react. Commands are detailed in the README.md file.

[jokerdrake]

@citoreek Great, this fixes the problem I am having.Thanks!

[aliyankhan]

Done fixing both npm and npx.
Take a look at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkAwSMxfezs

[sudhir600]

I did the all changes as described by @citoreek. after that i am getting new error-

22 error 404 'create-nuxt-add@latest' is not in the npm registry.
23 error 404 Your package name is not valid, because
24 error 404 1. name can only contain URL-friendly characters
25 error 404 Note that you can also install from a
26 error 404 tarball, folder, http url, or git url.
27 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Note sure what should i do

[edisgreat]

I had a similar error on Ubuntu WSL on Windows 10, and tried just dropping npx, so calling just

create-react-app tutorial-react

and it seems to work now

[g8up]

On Windows, I fixed it in #146 (comment) 's way:

1. run npm config edit to edit your config
2. change cache path,e.g.
   from cache=D:\program file\npm-cache to cache=D:\progra~1\npm-cache

[demiro]

2. change cache path,e.g.
from cache=D:\program file\npm-cache to cache=D:\program~1\npm-cache

don't forget to remove the ';' at the beginning of the line

[gijswijs]

you can replace the string after space with "~1"

@citoreek It's a bit more complicated. You remove all the spaces from the folder name, then you take the first 6 characters of the folder name and postfix it with ~1. Officialy, you should also uppercase it, but I found it doesn't make a difference.

So the full path of my folder was:
C:\Users\Gijs van Dam\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache
the path with the short folder name is:
C:\Users\GIJSVA~1\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache

If you want to be sure, you can use
dir /x in cmd
or
cmd /c dir /x in powershell to see the short file and folder names inside a folder.

[jonas-thuvesson-winberg]

Why is this issue closed?

[killian-coder]

I download the latest version of node
run this npm config edit command
removed the comma (;) on this cache=C:\Users\Killian C\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache
and the space in between killian C saved and run

[nkb-bd]

Thanks killian-coder , but it should be fixed soon

[dannyLister]

you can replace the string after space with "~1"

@citoreek It's a bit more complicated. You remove all the spaces from the folder name, then you take the first 6 characters of the folder name and postfix it with ~1. Officialy, you should also uppercase it, but I found it doesn't make a difference.

So the full path of my folder was:
C:\Users\Gijs van Dam\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache
the path with the short folder name is:
C:\Users\GIJSVA~1\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache

If you want to be sure, you can use
dir /x in cmd
or
cmd /c dir /x in powershell to see the short file and folder names inside a folder.

Thank you for this. No one explained before that you only need the first six characters. If you have any more characters than 6 then it goes and creates a new folder.

[ZeCarlosCoutinho]

you can replace the string after space with "~1"

@citoreek It's a bit more complicated. You remove all the spaces from the folder name, then you take the first 6 characters of the folder name and postfix it with ~1. Officialy, you should also uppercase it, but I found it doesn't make a difference.
So the full path of my folder was:
C:\Users\Gijs van Dam\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache
the path with the short folder name is:
C:\Users\GIJSVA~1\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache
If you want to be sure, you can use
dir /x in cmd
or
cmd /c dir /x in powershell to see the short file and folder names inside a folder.

Thank you for this. No one explained before that you only need the first six characters. If you have any more characters than 6 then it goes and creates a new folder.

It is the first 6 characters that have an entry in the ASCII table. If you have strange characters, they also don't count for the short folder name.
For example, a folder name like "André Silva", would be "ANDRSI~1" in the short name version, because it cuts the "é" and the space.

[jwmcpeak]

Why is this issue closed?

I'm wondering the same thing. The issue is not resolved.

[Wavez]

if you want to use current path that has space in username "C:\Users\Firstname Lastname\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache"
you can replace the string after space with "~1"

npm config set cache "C:\Users\Firstname~1\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache" --global

to get the exact tilde short path,

cd C:\Users
dir /x

Then copy the shown username and paste in the above command

[gatoenano]

Another simple fix for spaces problem would be
npx --npm="C:\PROGRA~1\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js" -p <package you want to install>

[MP-STARK]

you can change "npm-cache" folder to anothor path,
using command :
"npm config set cache C:\tmp\nodejs\npm-cache --global"

the best answer....it really works!!! thank you!!