Npm install cannot find module 'semver'

Question

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)

Answer 1

Deleting other global modules solved this issue for me:

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

I had the same error and npm uninstall npm -g, rm -rf node_modules didn't help me, because when I tried I was getting Error: Cannot find module 'semver'.

Answer 2

1. Delete node_modules folder

2. Restart trminal

3. Run npm whatever

Answer 3

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

To install nvm, follow the instructions in the latest nvm installation script or run the following (potentially out of date) command:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.5/install.sh | bash

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

nvm install --lts

now check the node version by running node -v

Answer 4

I encountered this Cannot find module 'semver' error while running npm install in WSL1 under Windows 10, with Ubuntu 22.04.2 LRS (jammy) as the Linux installation.

Using strace to see what syscalls were made, I found that Node.js was looking for /usr/share/nodejs/npm/node_modules/semver/package.json, which didn't exist. However, that module does appear to exist at the top level, in /usr/share/nodejs/semver/package.json. After some experimentation, I found that adding the top-level directory to Node's search path appears to fix the problem. This worked for me:

NODE_PATH=/usr/share/nodejs npm install

Therefore, I've added the environment variable setting to my ~/.bashrc file:

export NODE_PATH=/usr/share/nodejs

Answer 5

If you happen to get a 'semver' typescript error for the 'import' keyword, check if your file's extension is js instead of ts

Answer 6

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

original answer

Answer 7

This issue usually comes when node js and npm versions are not compatible. To fix this in Ubuntu (my version was 20)

1. Uninstall node js and npm.
   • apt remove npm
   • apt remove nodejs
   • which node (it will return node js files path)
   • Delete node directory
2. Install NVM
   • Installation
3. Install node
   • nvm install e.g. nvm install 8.16
   • Above command will itself install node js and its compatible NPM.

Answer 8

On WSL (so, ~Ubuntu), I faced this problem after having installed both, nodejs and npm through apt, then updated Node using n.

I was able to resolve it by completely removing apt's installation of npm: sudo apt purge npm.

Answer 9

Nevermind install Yarn.Performs parallel installation resulting in better speed and performance from npm

 sudo apt remove yarn
curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add - 
echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install yarn -y

Answer 10

First you can try close current terminal tab and open new its work fine

Answer 11

All I needed was sudo rm -rf node_modules/ in the directory I was working in. This happened after I updated my node version with n lts

Answer 12

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.

Answer 13

Just delete (or rename) the cloned repository's version of semver folder: "gitClonedRepository/App/node_modules/semver"

and copy the "semver" folder from "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\semver"

into the application's node_modules folder.

(if you're on Windows, othervise it must be located somewhere in /usr/local/lib/node_modules).

Answer 14

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.

Answer 15

For arch linux

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

Found here: https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/15558

Answer 16

just remove your node_modules

rm -rf node_modules

than

yarn

or

npm install

Answer 17

I got same error and I solved it.

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

Answer 18

Start fresh.

brew uninstall --force node
brew install node

Answer 19

i was getting an error saying Permission Denied after running any 'ng' command (ng --version). I googled for a while and tried clearing npm cache npm cache verify, uninstalling my global angular cli (npm uninstall -g @angular/cli) and reinstalling Angular/cli (npm install -g @angular/cli) etc.. but it would give an error say its already installed. but the node_modules folder here wouldn't have any angular folder.. reinstalled node even then restarted my computer.

ANSWER: Finally I found that the ng.cmd and ng.ps1 files in C:\Users\JaGoodwin\AppData\Roaming\npm\ here were still there (in npm folder).. even though I did npm uninstall -g @angular/cli. those files were causing ng (angular/cli) to think it was still installed. i deleted those files then npm install -g @angular/cli@8.3.29 (version i need) I then removed my projects node_modules and then ran npm install and now can run my angular project using ng serve.

C:\Users\JaGoodwin\AppData\Roaming\npm\

Find this by folder searching %APPDATA% in your windows search bar.

Answer 20

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

I had to first get code from the bash source:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -

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

Answer 21

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:

0. sudo apt-get purge nodejs --auto-remove and sudo apt-get purge npm --auto-remove
1. whereis node: remove all the versions of node, one at a time. Repeat until this command returns a blank after node:.
2. sudo apt-get install nodejs
3. node --version: should return ... no such file or directory
4. 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.
5. sudo apt-get install npm
6. npm --version: it will use the nodejs installed by apt and work correctly.

Answer 22

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

Answer 23

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.

Answer 24

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

yarn global add npm

Answer 25

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

Answer 26

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

Answer 27

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.

Answer 28

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

Answer 29

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)

https://www.hostingadvice.com/how-to/update-node-js-latest-version/

wget https://nodejs.org/dist/vx.x.x/node-vx.x.x-linux-x64.tar.xz
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.

Answer 30

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!