nvm is not compatible with the npm config prefix option

Question

I am trying to run another NodeJS version with nvm but getting this error     nvm use v4 2 4  nvm is not compatible with the npm config  prefix  option      currently set to   Users z  npm-global  Run  npm config delete prefix  or  nvm use --delete-prefix v4 2 4  to unset it    I have my prefix set on purpose to avoid sudo npm  see https   docs npmjs com getting-started fixing-npm-permissions    Is there any way I can use nvm without losing my prefix for globally installed packages

User · Answer

I solved this problem when it was showing on VSCode and JetBrains Terminals, but not in the native terminal using the following commands:

ls -la /usr/local/bin | grep "np[mx]"

This will give you the resolved path at the end:

... npm -> ../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
... npx -> ../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npx-cli.js

From there, removing the files and relaunching VS Code should fix the issue:

rm -R /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
rm -R /usr/local/bin/npx /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npx-cli.js

fix link: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm/issues/1690#issuecomment-392014774

User · Answer

This error can occur when your NVM installation folder path has a Symbolic Link   Explanation  The default installation path of NVM is   HOME  nvm but your home folder could be a symbolic link for another drive  like my case   Example  my home folder is a Symbolic Link to aother drive    home myuser - gt   bigdrive myuser  This cause the prefix problem   Solution  On your startup script   bashrc or  zshrc or other   change the NVM folder to the direct path   Ex  NVM DIR   bigdrive myuser  nvm     bashrc  export NVM DIR   bigdrive myuser  nvm    -s   NVM DIR nvm sh     amp  amp       NVM DIR nvm sh    This loads nvm   -s   NVM DIR bash completion     amp  amp       NVM DIR bash completion

User · Answer

I ran into this while using node installed via nvm  with nvm installed via homebrew  I solved it by running brew uninstall nvm  rm -rf  NVM DIR  then reinstalling nvm using the official install script and reinstalling the node version I needed   Note  I also had  NVM DIR mounted and symlinked  I moved it back into my homedir

User · Answer

I followed https   stackoverflow com a 47861348 2391795 answer but it didn t work out well     npm config delete prefix    npm config set prefix  NVM DIR versions node v6 11 1   After running the recommended commands my nvm didn t work anymore  running nvm use would display the proper node version being used  but running node -v would show another  It wasn t possible to change node s version anymore   I uninstalled and reinstalled nvm entirely to fix it  I followed https   github com creationix nvm manual-uninstall by running     rm -rf   NVM DIR    Then edited my  zshrc to remove the lines related to nvm  which in my case were  export NVM DIR   HOME  nvm    -s   NVM DIR nvm sh     amp  amp       NVM DIR nvm sh    This loads nvm   -s   NVM DIR bash completion     amp  amp       NVM DIR bash completion    Then started a new shell  so that nvm isn t loaded in this new shell  and ran https   github com creationix nvm install-script  curl -o- https   raw githubusercontent com creationix nvm v0 34 0 install sh   bash   Which added nvm the lines I previously had removed in my  zshrc   Then I was able to use nvm as I used to  I guess that s an odd case were things went wrong and forced me to reinstall everything  doesn t look like most people go through this due to this issue

User · Answer

I was looking for a solution for the nvm prefix problem a found this question before finding the solution   Here is my shell  dialog   I hope  it can be usefull for somebody  I was able to set to prefix with the help of this post  https   github com npm npm issues 6592   When I tried npm config delete prefix or nvm use --delete-prefix before using npm --prefix    set prefix     I got only  npm ERR  not ok code 0  Note that you will have to repeat the same procedure with every node version  the prefix is set back to  in my case   usr local after installation          nvm install 0 10                                                                              100 0      nvm is not compatible with the npm config  prefix  option  currently set to   usr local      Run  npm config delete prefix  or  nvm use --delete-prefix v0 10 44  to unset it        npm --prefix    set prefix          nvm use 0 10 44     nvm is not compatible with the npm config  prefix  option  currently set to   home john      Run  npm config delete prefix  or  nvm use --delete-prefix v0 10 44  to unset it        nvm use --delete-prefix v0 10 44     Now using node v0 10 44  npm v1 3 10        nvm ls     v0 10 44              v4 4 3     - gt        system     default - gt  4 4 3  - gt  v4 4 3      node - gt  stable  - gt  v4 4 3   default      stable - gt  4 4  - gt  v4 4 3   default      iojs - gt  N A  default        npm config get prefix      usr local

User · Answer

Note  to remove  delete  or uninstall nvm - just remove the  NVM DIR folder  usually    nvm  you can try   rm -rf    nvm

User · Answer

Let me describe my situation   First  check the current config    nvm use --delete-prefix v10 7 0   npm config list   Then  I found the error config in output     project config  mnt c Users paul  npmrc prefix     mnt c Users paul C   Program Files  nodejs    So  I deleted the C   Program Files  nodejs in  mnt c Users paul  npmrc

User · Answer

I just have a idea  Use the symbolic link to solve the error and you can still use your prefix for globally installed packages   ln -s  your prefix path    path in the     nvm    then you will have a symbolic folder in the    nvm folder  but in fact  your global packages are still installed in  your prefix path   Then the error will not show again and you can use nvm use    normally  ps  it s worked for me on mac  pps  do not forget to set  PATH to your npm bin folder to use the globally installed packages

User · Answer

Delete and Reset the prefix    npm config delete prefix    npm config set prefix  NVM DIR versions node v6 11 1     Note  Change the version number with the one indicated in the error message      nvm is not compatible with the npm config  prefix  option  currently   set to   usr local  Run  npm config delete prefix  or  nvm use   --delete-prefix v6 11 1 --silent  to unset it      Credits to  gabfiocchi on Github -  You need to overwrite nvm prefix

User · Answer

It might be the problem if you have your home directory mounted somewhere  due nvm does not work properly with symlinks  Because I don t care where is my  NVM DIR located I run this and all works fine     mv    nvm  tmp    export NVM DIR   tmp  nvm    nvm use --delete-prefix v6 9 1

User · Answer

I had the same problem and executing npm config delete prefix did not help me   But this did   After installing nvm using brew  create    nvm directory    mkdir    nvm    and add following lines into    bash profile     export NVM DIR    nvm     brew --prefix nvm  nvm sh    Check that you have no other nvm related command in any    bashrc or    profile or    bash profile     Open a new terminal and this time it should not print any warning message  Check that nvm is working by executing nvm --version command  After that  install reinstall NodeJS using nvm install node  amp  amp  nvm alias default node     More Info  I installed nvm using homebrew and after that I got this notification      Please note that upstream has asked us to make explicit managing      nvm via Homebrew is unsupported by them and you should check any      problems against the standard nvm install method prior to reporting       You should create NVM s working directory if it doesn t exist    mkdir    nvm       Add the following to    bash profile or your desired shell      configuration file    export NVM DIR    nvm      brew --prefix nvm  nvm sh       You can set  NVM DIR to any location  but leaving it unchanged from       usr local Cellar nvm 0 31 0 will destroy any nvm-installed Node installations      upon upgrade reinstall    Ignoring it brought me to this error message      nvm is not compatible with the npm config  prefix  option  currently set to   usr local Cellar nvm 0 31 0 versions node v5 7 1       Run nvm use --delete-prefix v5 7 1 --silent to unset it    I followed an earlier guide  from homebrew nvm  and after that I found that I needed to reinstall NodeJS  So I did     nvm install node  amp  amp  nvm alias default node   and it was fixed   Update  Using brew to install NVM causes slow startup of the Terminal  You can follow this instruction to resolve it

User · Answer

This may be a conflict with your local installation of Node  if you had it installed via another way than NVM in the past   You should delete this instance of node    remove node modules  sudo rm -rf  usr local lib node modules  remove node  sudo rm  usr local bin node          remove node link  cd  usr local bin  amp  amp  ls -l   grep     lib node modules     awk   print  9    xargs rm    After you cant install nvm

User · Answer

Just resolved the issue  I symlinked  HOME  nvm to  DEV ZONE env node nvm directory  I was facing same issue  I replaced NVM DIR in  HOME  zshrc as follows  export NVM DIR   DEV ZONE env node nvm    BTW  please install NVM using curl or wget command not by using brew  For more please check the comment in this issue on Github  855 issuecomment-146115434

User · Answer

I had this issue after moving my home folder to a new drive on linux  It was fixed by removing  nvm folder and reinstalling nvm

User · Answer

I had the same problem and it was really annoying each time with the terminal  I run the command to the terminal and it was fixed  For those try to remove nvm from brew  it may not be enough to just brew uninstall nvm  if you see npm prefix is still  usr local  run this command     sudo rm -rf    usr local  lib node    npm  modules  bin share man   npm  node  man1 node

User · Answer

I have the same error message but other solution  The autogenerated path during curl  install sh  does not match  Check this with   echo  NVM DIR   In my case   var www   nvm  Show in your auto generated bash file and change it and replace it       bash profile     zshrc     profile  or    bashrc   replace  export NVM DIR   HOME  nvm    with  e g    export NVM DIR   HOME nvm

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