How to fix “gyp ERR! stack Error: Can't find Python executable python” on Windows?

Question

I was trying to install chimp on my windows computer globally but could not succeed. Here is the error that I have been shown. Can anybody please help me regarding this?

 C:\Users\Shahin>npm install -g chimp
npm WARN deprecated babel-preset-es2015@6.24.1: 🙌  Thanks for using Babel: we recommend using babel-preset-env now: please read babeljs.io/env to update!
npm WARN deprecated node-uuid@1.4.8: Use uuid module instead
C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\chimp -> C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\chimp\bin\chimp.js

> fibers@1.0.15 install C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\chimp\node_modules\fibers
> node build.js || nodejs build.js


C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\chimp\node_modules\fibers>if not defined npm_config_node_gyp (node "C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin\\..\..\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" rebuild --release )  else (node "" rebuild --release )
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: Can't find Python executable "python", you can set the PYTHON env variable.
gyp ERR! stack     at PythonFinder.failNoPython (C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:483:19)
gyp ERR! stack     at PythonFinder.<anonymous> (C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:508:16)
gyp ERR! stack     at C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\graceful-fs\polyfills.js:284:29
gyp ERR! stack     at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:152:21)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.15063
gyp ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Users\\Shahin\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild" "--release"
gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\chimp\node_modules\fibers
gyp ERR! node -v v8.9.1
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.6.2
gyp ERR! not ok
node-gyp exited with code: 1
Please make sure you are using a supported platform and node version. If you
would like to compile fibers on this machine please make sure you have setup your
build environment--
Windows + OS X instructions here: https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp
Ubuntu users please run: `sudo apt-get install g++ build-essential`
Alpine users please run: `sudo apk add python make g++`
'nodejs' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: fsevents@1.1.3 (node_modules\chimp\node_modules\fsevents):
npm WARN notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Unsupported platform for fsevents@1.1.3: wanted {"os":"darwin","arch":"any"} (current: {"os":"win32","arch":"x64"})

npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! fibers@1.0.15 install: `node build.js || nodejs build.js`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the fibers@1.0.15 install script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Shahin\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2017-11-23T12_22_34_584Z-debug.log

I have seen some tutorials for ubuntu. but do not know how to fix this for windows.

Answer 1

Looks like you don't have the toolchain for native module compilation installed. Most npm modules are pure js so you don't run into these issues, but some require compiling on install.

Easiest way to install the toolchain is with windows-build-tools

Open an administrator level command prompt and run:

npm install --global windows-build-tools

It will take a long time but installs everything you need and scopes it for npm to use correctly