npm WARN: npm does not support Node.js v12.4.0

Question

I've been getting the following warnings lately whenever I run any npm script:

npm WARN npm npm does not support Node.js v12.4.0
npm WARN npm You should probably upgrade to a newer version of node as we
npm WARN npm can't make any promises that npm will work with this version.
npm WARN npm Supported releases of Node.js are the latest release of 6, 8, 9, 10, 11.
npm WARN npm You can find the latest version at https://nodejs.org/

It says that I should upgrade to a newer version, but v12.4 is the newest version. Even though the scripts run fine, I think there's no guarantee and something might break at any moment.

I've also tried updating npm in case there's a newer version using npm install npm -g but got the error:

npm ERR! path /usr/local/Cellar/node/12.4.0/lib/node_modules/npm
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! syscall access
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/Cellar/node/12.4.0/lib/node_modules/npm'
npm ERR!  [Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/Cellar/node/12.4.0/lib/node_modules/npm'] {
npm ERR!   stack: 'Error: EACCES: permission denied, access ' +
npm ERR!     "'/usr/local/Cellar/node/12.4.0/lib/node_modules/npm'",
npm ERR!   errno: -13,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'access',
npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/Cellar/node/12.4.0/lib/node_modules/npm'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator (though this is not recommended).

Then I've seen that Homebrew version of npm can't be updated using npm itself, so I tried updating through Homebrew using brew upgrade npm but got this error:

Error: npm 12.4.0 already installed

For some reason Brew mixes up nodes and npms versions.

What am I doing wrong and how can I get rid of this warning?

Answer 1

Seems like you messed up with permissions in /usr/local.

Here is how to fix that:

1. Fix /usr/local permissions:

   sudo chown -R `id -un`:`id -gn` /usr/local
   

2. Clean npm cache and uninstall it:

   npm cache clean -f
   npm -g uninstall npm
   

3. Reinstall node (with npm)

   brew reinstall node
   

4. Upgrade npm:

   npm -g i npm
   

That should bring [email protected].

You should avoid using sudo while installing software with brew or npm, that could cause issues like this.

Answer 2

What worked for me:

if you try running this command "npm cache clean -f" and it doesn't work,

on your windows machine(mine is windows 10) access the "npm" and "npm-cache" folders in this location "~\AppData\Roaming\"

delete these two folders "npm" and "npm-cache".

go to your windows search bar and search for Node, right click to open file location, run the uninstaller to uninstall NodeJs.

then visit nodejs.org and download and install node again, if you've already downloaded it, visit the folder where you downloaded it to reinstall it.

after installation, check your version of npm by typing "npm -v" on your command terminal to see the new updated version of npm installed on your machine.

now you're all set, Happy coding.

Answer 3

Had the same issue with Debian 10 (buster) when I tried installing the npm and node.js. They were incompatible and wouldn't update. This was what I found works for me.

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

The nodejs package was installed at a different path and I manually deleted the old package (in /usr/bin/) and added a symlink to point to the new one (in /usr/local/bin).

sudo rm /usr/bin/node
sudo ln -s /usr/local/node /usr/bin/node

This is the initial printouts from running the commands. The npm version updates from 5.8.0 to 8.1.2. But the nodejs version stayed at 10.24.0 even after reboot with hash -r.

Answer 4

None of the answers here worked. I had to delete the npm and npm-cache folders, then reinstall npm. Details here: npm does not support Node.js v12.18.3

Answer 5

If you have nvm you may have an issue in which your node version installed at a certain version didn't match.

For example, I accidentally used: npm i -g node --force resulting in my nvm v12.21.0 to point to v16.5.0 (the latest version of node at that time directly downloadable).

To solve: I ran:

1. Just for good measure brew uninstall nvm
2. brew install nvm.
3. nvm uninstall 12.21
4. nvm install 12.21
5. Just for good measure I ran npm i -g npm resulting in the latest version of npm installed on that virtual node.
6. After installing within some repo (using npm i) you may also want to check your: ~/.npmrc.

[email protected]
registry=https://artifactory.company.com/npm/npm/
always-auth=true
user-agent=npm/6.14.11 node/v12.21.0 darwin x64
_authToken=siofjwoirgiowrgnioaenrvoianeoiio32noi23nio23nio23nio

It should look something like this: (or you might not have any of that.

Answer 6

After step 4 posted by Styx, and if node claims installation fo a newer version but npm -v keeps showing outdated version

Code for Mac and node installed with brew:

cd /usr/local/bin/
mv npm npm-backup
mv npx npx-backup
ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/node/14.2.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js /usr/local/bin/npm 
ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/node/14.2.0/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npx-cli.js /usr/local/bin/npx 
npm -version
6.14.5

Answer 7

I hit this issue and the steps above didn't work for me. I think it can happen if you try to upgrade Node or NPM without updating the other also. At least I think that's what happened to me.

I was trying to create a new Angular project and I had a very old version on my machine. I got an error to upgrade Node, so I bumped it to the latest version. After that I got the error running any npm command.

I resolved it simply by going to: https://nodejs.org/en/download/

Getting the latest version and installing that in a pkg file (mac). After install was complete I was able to run everything. I'm guessing it worked because the versions of each mismatched, so one wouldn't run without the other being downgraded.

I also tried the brew option but I was getting other issues. My corporate machine sometimes blocks installations in that route, so it might work for others.

Answer 8

For Windows, this was driving me crazy, and all of the above solutions were not working, I would still get the old version of node showing for node -v.

For me simply killing the terminal window and starting it again resolved the issue. No amount of cache clearing worked until this. I know it sounds dumb, but that's what resolved this for me in the end. Hope this helps someone else not lose hours farting around with this.