Npm install cannot find module 'semver'

I can't use npm install using the command prompt in NodeJS. I'm getting these errors when running npm install:

module.js:339 throw err; ^
Error: Cannot find module 'semver' at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:337:15) at Function.Module._load (module.js:287:25) at Module.require (module.js:366:17) at require (module.js:385:17) at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\l
ib\config\defaults.js:6:14) at Module._compile (module.js:435:26) at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:442:10) at Module.load (module.js:356:32) at Function.Module._load (module.js:311:12) at Module.require (module.js:366:17)

35 Answers

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I had the same error. npm uninstall npm -g, rm -rf node_modules didn't help me, because when I tried I was getting Error: Cannot find module 'semver'. But I solve my problem with these steps (this will delete other global modules you may be using):

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules
sudo rm -rf ~/.npm
brew uninstall --force node
brew install node

Hope this will help those who are getting a similar problem.

I'm facing the same issue here.

If this occurs right after you run brew install yarn try running yarn global add npm and voilà - fixed!

if you are in Linux server exit from the server and re ssh

On MS Windows, the solution is to remove %APPDATA%\npm and reinstall node

I had this too, after running brew install yarn yesterday. At least, everything was fine up until then.

I ran rm -rf node_modules and tried to reinstall, but no npm command was working.

In the end I took the rather simple step of reinstalling Node via the official Node installer for Mac OS X.

Everything is fine now. Just went back to the directory, ran npm install and it's done the trick.

On Ubuntu, if you would rather manage Node through the default repositories using apt, it's best to install both nodejs and npm this way.

It's very likely that the version of npm you are using is expecting semver in a specific place that is not aligned with the version of Node JS you have installed. If there is only one version of nodejs and only one version of npm, and they are both installed using the default repositories, this should work perfectly.

Here is my best guidance for getting Node and npm working using the main Ubuntu repositories:

sudo apt-get purge nodejs --auto-remove and sudo apt-get purge npm --auto-remove
whereis node: remove all the versions of node, one at a time. Repeat until this command returns a blank after node:.
sudo apt-get install nodejs
node --version: should return ... no such file or directory
nodejs --version: should return v1x.x.x. This is the version installed by apt. It will probably be less recent that the latest version available on the Node JS website.
sudo apt-get install npm
npm --version: it will use the nodejs installed by apt and work correctly.

On Arch Linux what did the trick for me was:

sudo pacman -Rs npm
sudo pacman -S npm

I had the same problem, the way i solved it was by executing

PATH="$PATH"

in terminal, problem was the terminal kept the old path of nodejs instead of using the new one.

Having just encountered this on Arch Linux 4.13.3, I solved the issue by simply reinstalling semver:

pacman -S semver

Actually, it is taking the reference of previously stored modules.

Solution:Delete the npm-cache/npm folder in the installation directory of nodejs. In windows, it is in C:/User/Username/Appdata/Roaming/npm(or npm_cache). and try to install again.

Same thing to do in any OS.

In my case on macOS(10.13.6), when I executed the following command

npm install -g react-native-cli

I got this error

Error: Cannot find module 'semver' at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:636:15) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:562:25) at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:690:17) at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:25:18) at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/unsupported.js:2:14) at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:776:30) at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:787:10) at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:653:32) at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:593:12) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:585:3)

The error got resolved after executing the command

yarn global add npm

proposed by @Ashoor

For me, this happened after I installed yarn globally. To resolve this issue, install npm using yarn and done.

yarn global add npm

On Windows, downloading Node's MSI again and doing a 'Repair' worked for me.

I had the same issue but it was caused by a broken package-lock.json file.

Deleting package-lock.json and running npm install again fixed it for me.

Just make sure semver is installed: npm install -g semver

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* ~/.npm
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*
sudo apt-get purge nodejs npm
sudo apt autoremove

Then install node and npm

Just uninstall node js then reinstall it using nvm. Your problem will be solved. I am a debian 10 user.

mahedi@debain:~$ curl -o- | bash

after executing the command. close your terminal and reopen then run this command to install node js latest version.

mahedi@debain:~$ nvm install v14.15.5

now check by typing node -v

This worked for me on Ubuntu (latest version dated Oct/2020)

I had to first get code from the bash source:

curl -sL | sudo -E bash -

This got the latest version of node which updated my libraries and got rid of the 'semver' error.

For arch linux

sudo pacman -Rsc -n nodejs
sudo pacman -Sy nodejs
sudo pacman -Sy npm

Found here:

I got same error and I solved it.

delete package-lock.json file and node_modules folder then npm install

Faced this issue when I ran npm install using a lower version of node. Then later when I upgraded to latest version of node and ran gulp, it has shown this error.

To resolve, deleted node_modules and re-ran npm install. Then gulp ran fine.

Just remove the /node_modules folder and try again. ;)

You can use npm rm to remove it.

You can also check this issue on GitHub. To be more specific about unnistal, try to follow this:

Uninstalling

So sad to see you go.

sudo npm uninstall npm -g Or, if that fails,

sudo make uninstall More Severe Uninstalling

Usually, the above instructions are sufficient. That will remove npm, but leave behind anything you've installed.

If you would like to remove all the packages that you have installed, then you can use the npm ls command to find them, and then npm rm to remove them.

To remove cruft left behind by npm 0.x, you can use the included clean-old.sh script file. You can run it conveniently like this:

npm explore npm -g -- sh scripts/clean-old.sh npm uses two configuration files, one for per-user configs, and another for global (every-user) configs. You can view them by doing:

npm config get userconfig # defaults to ~/.npmrc npm config get globalconfig # defaults to /usr/local/etc/npmrc Uninstalling npm does not remove configuration files by default. You must remove them yourself manually if you want them gone. Note that this means that future npm installs will not remember the settings that you have chosen.

I finally figured this out! Yes, you have to uninstall/delete all files and reinstall. BUT SOME OF THE FILE PATHS ARE TOO LONG TO DELETE DURING THE UNINSTALL PROCESS. The file paths are so long in Node that they may not be able to be deleted. You have to rename the file paths.

After uninstalling Node, use Command Prompt, navigate to ...\Appdata\roaming\ (use the path from the error message). Try to delete the folder with del npm. Then, if it doesn't allow you to delete a folder, start renaming the folders in the file path in the next error message to "a" or something short. You may have to do this for multiple folders along the path. Then you should be able to delete! Then reinstall node and it should work.

just remove your node_modules

rm -rf node_modules

than

yarn

npm install

Just a reminder of executable npm execute via node env:

xb@dnxb:/tmp$ type -a npm
npm is /usr/bin/npm
npm is /bin/npm
xb@dnxb:/tmp$ realpath /usr/bin/npm /bin/npm
/usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
/usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
xb@dnxb:/tmp$
xb@dnxb:/tmp$ head -1 /usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
#!/usr/bin/env node

I can check which node is chosen by type -a, the first line has the most priority, i.e. I can get same error if I run /usr/local/bin/node /usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js, but no error if I run /usr/bin/node /usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js:

xb@dnxb:/tmp$ type -a node
node is /usr/local/bin/node
node is /usr/bin/node
node is /bin/node
xb@dnxb:/tmp$ realpath /usr/local/bin/node
/usr/local/bin/node
xb@dnxb:/tmp$ realpath /usr/bin/node
/usr/bin/node
xb@dnxb:/tmp$ realpath /bin/node
/usr/bin/node
xb@dnxb:/tmp$

There are 2 unique node exe based on realpath. If you have the similar case, then you need to find out how to remove the undesired/broken node exe, e.g. sudo rm /usr/local/bin/node or manipulate env $PATH.

In my case, simply re-running brew install yarn fixed the problem.

I faced with same trouble after brew installs yarn on my MacOs Sierra 10.12.6. (And the first try of installation fall after brew update self with a message " Homebrew must be run under Ruby 2.3! You're running 2.0.0. (RuntimeError)". So I re-run it.)

So I use n manager to reinstall npm.

switch to another node version (for my case to 8.0) by "n" command with empty parameters
or install new by "n x.x.x" where x.x.x the node version number (i need 6.9.1)
delete working version by "n rm x.x.x" where x.x.x the node version number. use sudo if need
install working version by "n x.x.x" where x.x.x the node version number. use sudo if need
switch by to the working version of node. (see first step for reference)

I think the trouble can be caused that node was installed under sudo for case.

I had the same issue installing on AWS Linux. I had to install it with sudo. So to get around this I followed step 3 from this article (making sure to get the latest version of node)

wget
tar -C /home/aUser/node --strip-components 1 -xJf node-vx.x.x-linux.x64.tar.xz

But installed it to the user's home directory /home/aUser/node. Then added that path to my PATH.

export PATH=/home/aUser/node/bin:$PATH

After that I was able to do an npm install with no issues.

I faced this issues while running project on higher version of cli. To solve this issue you can simply comment out @angular-devkit/build-angular module and again you have to reinstall it through

npm install @angular-devkit/build-angular --save

For me, it happened while upgrading to gulp 4 from gulp 3 in my project. So, when I run "gulp watch" command, it was throwing me same error.

It's probably due to version mismatch as compared to my globally installed gulp.

So, either upgrading gulp with "-g" global flag would help, or else I followed this below

However, I used "./node_modules/.bin/gulp watch" in my project. This ensures that all the dependencies that gulp needs are taken from node_modules only.

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