[javascript] How do I completely uninstall Node.js, and reinstall from beginning (Mac OS X)

My version of node is always v0.6.1-pre even after I install brew node and NVM install v0.6.19.

My node version is:

node -v
v0.6.1-pre

NVM says this (after I install a version of node for the first time in one bash terminal):

nvm ls
v0.6.19
current:    v0.6.19

But when I restart bash, this is what I see:

nvm ls
v0.6.19
current:    v0.6.1-pre
default -> 0.6.19 (-> v0.6.19)

So where is this phantom node 0.6.1-pre version and how can I get rid of it? I'm trying to install libraries via NPM so that I can work on a project.

I tried using BREW to update before NVM, using brew update and brew install node. I've tried deleting the "node" directory in my /usr/local/include and the "node" and "node_modules" in my /usr/local/lib. I've tried uninstalling npm and reinstalling it following these instructions.

All of this because I was trying to update an older version of node to install the "zipstream" library. Now there's folders in my users directory, and the node version STILL isn't up to date, even though NVM says it's using 0.6.19.

Ideally, I'd like to uninstall nodejs, npm, and nvm, and just reinstall the entire thing from scratch on my system.

• Delete node and/or node_modules from /usr/local/lib

        ex code:
        cd /usr/local/lib
        sudo rm -rf node
        sudo rm -rf node_modules
  

• Delete node and/or node_modules from /usr/local/include

• Delete node, node-debug, and node-gyp from /usr/local/bin
• Delete .npmrc from your home directory (these are your npm settings, don't delete this if you plan on re-installing Node right away)
• Delete .npm from your home directory
• Delete .node-gyp from your home directory
• Delete .node_repl_history from your home directory
• Delete node* from /usr/local/share/man/man1/
• Delete npm* from /usr/local/share/man/man1/
• Delete node.d from /usr/local/lib/dtrace/
• Delete node from /usr/local/opt/local/bin/
• Delete node from /usr/local/opt/local/include/
• Delete node_modules from /usr/local/opt/local/lib/
• Delete node from /usr/local/share/doc/
• Delete node.stp from /usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/

The best way is to download an installer package: .pkg on mac. Prefer the latest stable version.

Here is the link: Node.js

This package will eventually overwrite the previous version and set environment variables accordingly. Just run the installer and its done within a few clicks.

downgrade node to 0.10.36

  sudo npm cache clean -f
  sudo npm install -g n
  sudo n 0.10.36

upgrade node to stable v

  sudo npm cache clean -f
  sudo npm install -g n
  sudo n stable

Additional to the main answer I needed to remove all npm instances found in:

rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm*

After

brew uninstall node

I had to know which node

which node

then remove that

rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node

You can clone https://github.com/brock/node-reinstall and run the simple command as given in the repository.After that just restart your system.
This is the simplest method and also worked for me.

Expanding on Dominic Tancredi's awesome answer, I've rolled this into a bash package and stand-alone script. If you are already using the "Back Package Manager" called bpkg you can install the script by running:

bpkg install -g brock/node-reinstall

Or you can have a look at the script on Github at brock/node-reinstall. The script allows you to re-install node using nvm or nave, and to specify a node version as your default.

On Mavericks I install it from the node pkg (from nodejs site) and I uninstall it so I can re-install using brew. I only run 4 commands in the terminal:

1. sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/
2. brew uninstall node
3. brew doctor
4. brew cleanup --prune-prefix

If there is still a node installation, repeat step 2. After all is ok, I install using brew install node

https://stackabuse.com/how-to-uninstall-node-js-from-mac-osx/

Run following commands to remove node completely from system in MACOS

sudo rm -rf ~/.npm ~/.nvm ~/node_modules ~/.node-gyp ~/.npmrc ~/.node_repl_history
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/bin/node-debug /usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/bin/node-gyp
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node /usr/local/include/node_modules
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
sudo rm -rf /opt/local/include/node /opt/local/bin/node /opt/local/lib/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/doc/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp

brew uninstall node
brew doctor
brew cleanup --prune-prefix

After this i will suggest to use following command to install node using nvm

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.3/install.sh | bash

from https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

Worked for me.

$node --version

v11.1.0

$nvm deactivate

$nvm uninstall v11.1.0

If you're unable to locate node just run whereis node and whereis npm and whereis nvm and you can remove the listed directories as needed.

You'll also need to entirely close your terminal and reopen it for changes to take effect.

1. First:

   lsbom -f -l -s -pf /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.pkg.bom | while read f; do  sudo rm /usr/local/${f}; done
   
   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.*
   

2. To recap, the best way (I've found) to completely uninstall node + npm is to do the following:

   go to /usr/local/lib and delete any node and node_modules

   cd /usr/local/lib
   
   sudo rm -rf node*
   

3. go to /usr/local/include and delete any node and node_modules directory

   cd /usr/local/include
   
   sudo rm -rf node*
   

4. if you installed with brew install node, then run brew uninstall node in your terminal

   brew uninstall node
   

5. check your Home directory for any "local" or "lib" or "include" folders, and delete any "node" or "node_modules" from there

   go to /usr/local/bin and delete any node executable

   cd /usr/local/bin
   
   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm
   
   ls -las
   

6. You may need to do the additional instructions as well:

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/node.1
   
   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
   
   sudo rm -rf ~/.npm
   

Source: tonyMtz

I have been hit by an issue during uninstall of Node.js on my mac. I had some strange behavior like npm is still their even after having removing it with all this.

It was because I had an old install done with macport. So you also have to uninstall it using port:

sudo port uninstall nodejs

It may have install many different versions of Node.js so uninstall them all (one by one).

I'm not sure if it's because I had an old version (4.4.5), or if it's because I used the official installer, but most of the files referenced in other answers didn't exist on my system. I only had to remove the following:

~/.node-gyp
~/.node_repl_history
/usr/local/bin/node
/usr/local/bin/npm
/usr/local/include/node
/usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
/usr/local/lib/node_modules
/usr/local/share/doc/node
/usr/local/share/man/man1/node.1
/usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp

I decided to keep ~/.npm because I was planning on reinstalling Node with Homebrew.

In my case none of the other answers worked because I previously downgraded to node8. So instead of doing above, following worked for me:

which node

which returned /usr/local/bin/node@8 instead of /usr/local/bin/node

so i executed this command:

brew uninstall node@8

which worked and then downloaded latest pkg from official site and installed. After that I had to close my terminal and start again to access new version

I had installed Node.js from source downloaded from the git repository. I installed with:

./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Because the make file supports it, I can do:

$ sudo make uninstall

For brew users, OSX:

To remove:

brew uninstall node; 
# or `brew uninstall --force node` which removes all versions
brew cleanup;
rm -f /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d;
rm -rf ~/.npm;

To install:

brew install node;
which node # => /usr/local/bin/node
export NODE_PATH='/usr/local/lib/node_modules' # <--- add this ~/.bashrc

You can run brew info node for more details regarding your node installs.

consider using NVM instead of brew

NVM (node version manager) is a portable solution for managing multiple versions of node

https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

> nvm uninstall v4.1.0
> nvm install v8.1.2
> nvm use v8.1.2
> nvm list
         v4.2.0
         v5.8.0
        v6.11.0
->       v8.1.2
         system

you can use this with AVN to automatically switch versions as you hop between different projects with different node dependencies.

(server: ubuntu 14)

1.) install nvm (node version manager) https://github.com/creationix/nvm

2.) nvm install node

3.) npm -v (inquire npm version => 3.8.6)

4.) node -v (inquire node version => v6.0.0)

@lfender6445 answer worked just fine for me to uninstall

Now to reinstall, I had problems installing the last version instead of the most stable one, so to install a specific node version you should do:

brew install node@10 // 10 is the version I want
brew link node@10

Docker - alternative approach

Docker is some-kind of super-fast virtual machine which can be use to run tools like node (instead install them directly on mac-os). Advantages to do it are following

• all stuff ('milions' node files) are install inside docker image/container (they encapsulated in few inner-docker files)

• you can map your mac directory with project to your docker container and have access to node - but outside docker, mac-os sytem don't even know that node is installed. So you get some kind of 'virtual' console with available node commands which can works on real files

• you can easily kill node by find it by docker ps and kill by docker rm -f name_or_num

• you can easily uninstall docker image/containers by one command docker rmi ... and get free space - and install it again by run script (below)

• your node is encapsulated inside docker and don't have access to whole system - only to folders you map to it

• you can run node services and easily map they port to mac port and have access to it from web browser

• you can run many node versions at the same time

• in similar way you can install other tools like (in many versions in same time): php, databases, redis etc. - inside docker without any interaction with mac-os (which not notice such software at all). E.g. you can run at the same time 3 mysql db with different versions and 3 php application with different php version ... - so you can have many tools but clean system

• TEAM WORK: such enviroment can be easily cloned into other machines (and even to windows/linux systems - with some modifications) and provide identical docker-level environment - so you can easily set up and reuse you scripts/dockerfiles, and setup environment for new team member in very fast way (he just need to install docker and create similar folder-structure and get copy of scripts - thats all). I work this way for 2 year and with my team - and we are very happy

Instruction

• Install docker using e.g. this instructions

• Prepare 'special' directory for work e.g. my directory is /Users/kamil/work (I will use this directory further - but it can be arbitrary) - this directory will be 'interface' between docker containers and your mac file ststem. Inside this dir create following dir structure:

  /Users/kamil/work/code - here you put your projects with code

  /Users/kamil/work/tools

  /Users/kamil/work/tools/docker-data - here we map containers output data like logs (or database files if someone ouse db etc.)

  /Users/kamil/work/tools/docker

  /Users/kamil/work/tools/docker/node-cmd - here we put docker node scripts

• inside tools create file .env which will contain in one place global-paths used in other scripts

  _x000D_

  _x000D_

  toolspath="/Users/kamil/work/tools"
  codepath="/Users/kamil/work/code"
  workpath=/Users/kamil/work

  _x000D_

  _x000D_
  _x000D_

• innside dir ../node-cmd create file dockerfile with following content

  _x000D_

  _x000D_

  # default  /var/www/html (mapped to .../code folder with projects)
  FROM node
  
  WORKDIR /work
  
  # Additional arbitrary tools (ng, gulp, bower)
  RUN npm install -g n @angular/cli bower gulp grunt
  
  CMD while true; do sleep 10000; done
  
  # below ports are arbitrary
  EXPOSE 3002 3003 3004 4200

  _x000D_

  _x000D_
  _x000D_

• innside dir ../node-cmd create file run-container with following content (this file should be executable e.g. by chmod +x run-container) - (notice how we map port-s and directories form external 'world' to internal docker filesystem)

  _x000D_

  _x000D_

  set -e
  cd -- "$(dirname "$0")" # this script dir (not set on doubleclick)
  source ../../.env
  toolsdir=$toolspath/docker-data
  workdir=$workpath
  
  if [ ! "$(docker ps | grep node-cmd)" ] 
  then 
    docker build -t node-cmd .
    docker rm -f node-cmd |:
    docker run -d --name node-cmd -p 4200:4200 -p 4201:4201 -p 3002:3002 -p 3003:3003 -p 3004:3004 -v $toolsdir/node-cmd/logs:/root/.npm/_logs -v $workdir:/work node-cmd
  fi

  _x000D_

  _x000D_
  _x000D_

• ok now you can add some project e.g. work/code/myProject and add to it following file 'run-cmd' (must be executable)

  _x000D_

  _x000D_

  cd -- "$(dirname "$0")"
  ../../tools/docker/node-cmd/run-container
  docker exec -it node-cmd bash -c "cd /work/code/myProject; bash"

  _x000D_

  _x000D_
  _x000D_

• then if you run above script (by double-click), you will see console with available node commands in project directory e.g. npm install

• to run project in background (e.g some serwice) e.g. run web-server angular-cli application you can use following script (named run-front -must be executable) - (you must also edit /etc/hosts file to add proper domain)

  _x000D_

  _x000D_

  cd -- "$(dirname "$0")"
  open "http://my-angular.local:3002"
  ../../tools/docker/node-cmd/run-container
  docker exec -it node-cmd  /bin/sh -c "cd /work/code/my-angular-project; npm start"
  cat         # for block script and wait for user ctrl+C

  _x000D_

  _x000D_
  _x000D_

maybe you need to make

hash -r 

it helps with problem of symlink

$ node -v
$ bash: /opt/local/bin/node: No such file or directory

As a companion to the answers explaining cleanup and install via homebrew, I found that homebrew itself provided clear indications of the symlink clashes.

Unfortunately it provides these one by one as it encounters them, so it is a little laborious, but it does seem to find all the clashes and was the only way I could get a clean install with homebrew.

Essentially, the process is:

1. use homebrew to uninstall node
2. clean homebrew
3. use homebrew to install node and note any flagged clashing file
4. delete the flag clashing file (or whole directory if it is a 'node' directory)
5. goto step 1 until you get a clean install

:

Here is a screen output from the last steps of my install - you can see it results in a clean install (eventually...):

computer1:DevResources user1$ brew install node
Updating Homebrew...
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Users/user1/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/da904f1fdab6f6b2243a810b685e67b29a642c6e945f086e0022323a37fe85f9--node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
Could not symlink share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp
Target /usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp
already exists. You may want to remove it:
  rm '/usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp'

To force the link and overwrite all conflicting files:
  brew link --overwrite node

To list all files that would be deleted:
  brew link --overwrite --dry-run node

Possible conflicting files are:
/usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp
/usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
==> Caveats
Bash completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d
==> Summary
  /usr/local/Cellar/node/13.1.0: 4,591 files, 54.2MB
computer1:DevResources user1$ rm '/usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp'
computer1:DevResources user1$ brew uninstall node
Uninstalling /usr/local/Cellar/node/13.1.0... (4,591 files, 54.2MB)
computer1:DevResources user1$ brew cleanup
computer1:DevResources user1$ brew install node
Updating Homebrew...
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Users/user1/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/da904f1fdab6f6b2243a810b685e67b29a642c6e945f086e0022323a37fe85f9--node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
Could not symlink lib/dtrace/node.d
Target /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
already exists. You may want to remove it:
  rm '/usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d'

To force the link and overwrite all conflicting files:
  brew link --overwrite node

To list all files that would be deleted:
  brew link --overwrite --dry-run node

Possible conflicting files are:
/usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
==> Caveats
Bash completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d
==> Summary
  /usr/local/Cellar/node/13.1.0: 4,591 files, 54.2MB
computer1:DevResources user1$ rm '/usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d'
computer1:DevResources user1$ 
computer1:DevResources user1$ brew uninstall node
Uninstalling /usr/local/Cellar/node/13.1.0... (4,591 files, 54.2MB)
computer1:DevResources user1$ brew cleanup
computer1:DevResources user1$ brew install node
Updating Homebrew...
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Users/user1/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/da904f1fdab6f6b2243a810b685e67b29a642c6e945f086e0022323a37fe85f9--node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring node-13.1.0.mojave.bottle.tar.gz
==> Caveats
Bash completion has been installed to:
  /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d
==> Summary
  /usr/local/Cellar/node/13.1.0: 4,591 files, 54.2MB
computer1:DevResources user1$ node -v
v13.1.0

This fixed it for me Fixing npm On Mac OS X for Homebrew Users. And it does not require too many steps.

Just go to the solution part if you don't care about the why.

Here is the relevant part for convenience:

Solution

This solution fixes the error caused by trying to run npm update npm -g. Once you're finished, you also won't need to use sudo to install npm modules globally.

Before you start, make a note of any globally installed npm packages. These instructions will have you remove all of those packages. After you're finished you'll need to re-install them.

Run the following commands to remove all existing global npm modules, uninstall node & npm, re-install node with the correct defaults, configure the location for global npm modules to be installed, and then install npm as its own pacakge.

rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules
brew uninstall node
brew install node --without-npm
echo prefix=~/.npm-packages >> ~/.npmrc
curl -L https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

Node and npm should be correctly installed at this point. The final step is to add ~/.npm-packages/bin to your PATH so npm and global npm packages are usable. To do this, add the following line to your ~/.bash_profile:

export PATH="$HOME/.npm-packages/bin:$PATH"

Now you can re-install any global npm packages you need without any problems.

If you have already installed nvm then execute the following commands

• nvm deactivate - This will remove /.nvm/*/bin from $PATH
• nvm list - To list out all the versions of node installed in the system
• nvm uninstall <version> in you can specify all the versions you want to uninstall.

It is always a good that you install node using nvm and uninstall using nvm rather than brew .

This solution worked for me.

Additional Commands

• which node to know the path of node installed in your system. You can rm this directory to uninstall node manually. Then you may need to adjust the PATH file accordingly.

I know this post is a little dated but just wanted to share the commands that worked for me in Terminal when removing Node.js.

lsbom -f -l -s -pf /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.pkg.bom | while read f; do  sudo rm /usr/local/${f}; done
 
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.*

UPDATE: 23 SEP 2016

If you're afraid of running these commands...

Thanks to jguix for this quick tutorial.

First, create an intermediate file:

lsbom -f -l -s -pf /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.node.pkg.bom >> ~/filelist.txt

Manually review your file (located in your Home folder)

 ~/filelist.txt

Then delete the files:

cat ~/filelist.txt | while read f; do sudo rm /usr/local/${f}; done

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.*

For 10.10.5 and above

Thanks Lenar Hoyt

Gist Comment Source: gistcomment-1572198

Original Gist: TonyMtz/d75101d9bdf764c890ef

lsbom -f -l -s -pf /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.node.pkg.bom | while read f; do sudo rm /usr/local/${f}; done

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules /var/db/receipts/org.nodejs.*

I have summarized the existing answers and made sure Node.js is COMPLETELY ERASED along with NPM.

Lines to copy to terminal:

brew uninstall node;
which node;
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node;
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/;
brew doctor;
brew cleanup --prune-prefix;

First of all, you need to deactivate node: (mac) after install new node version.

nvm deactivate

This is removed /Users/user_name/.nvm/*/bin from $PATH

And after that node was updated

node --version
v10.9.0