How to perform a clean install of NPM

Question

Every time I try to run npm on Windows 10, I get Error: EINVAL: invalid argument, mkdir 'C:\Program Files\nodejs"'

• I have deleted %Appdata%\npm and %Appdata%\npm-cache .
• I have deleted c:\program files\nodejs , checked that c:\program files (x86)\nodejs does not exist, and tried to install NodeJS in c:\nodejs instead to get rid of the space in the directory name.
• I have uninstalled NodeJS and searched through the Windows registry, removing every reference to NodeJS.
• I have tried to use NPM to update NPM to a different version, but I only get the same error.
• I have removed all references to Node folders from environment variables and paths.
• Of NodeJS versions I have tried Latest LTS Version: 12.16.3 (includes npm 6.14.4 ), and Latest Current Version: 14.2.0 (includes npm 6.14.4 ).
• I have tried using Chocolatey to install NodeJS, it made no difference.

Every time I reboot, reinstall NodeJS, and try to use NPM, I get the same error.

When I try to check what version of NPM is actually installed, the answer is... the same error.

How do I eradicate all NodeJS and NPM related files and settings from Windows 10 so that I can perform an actual clean install, without having to resort to the nuclear option, formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows?

Answer 1

Ok, after ripping my hair out, as well as half of the installed software on my PC, I continued googling, and eventually stumbled on the solution by investigating some file paths mentioned in this question: nodejs npm global config missing on windows .

Apparently, there is a config file %userprofile%\.npmrc which is relevant somehow. On my own computer, this file contained the text prefix=C:\Program Files\nodejs" .

If that looks familiar, it's because it's the string in the error message that has been plaguing me. When I emptied the file, npm started working again, just like that.