Npm updates sucessfully, but still shows old version

Question

When I do a npm -v I see that I am still on 5.6.0. And keep getting prompts to do a npm i npm.

But I've done a sudo npm install npm@latest -g and double checked with a npm outdated -g --depth=0 to see that my global npm is at the latest already (6.0.0).

How do I resolve this conflict? Is the npm I'm using the latest or is it still the old one? Is it because my global is linked incorrectly or something?

Also encountering same problem here, has u been able to solve this? — Farid, Jul 13 '18 at 23:07
Refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50529037/npm-global-not-being-used/50752841#50752841 — Kelvin Zhao, Jul 15 '18 at 00:46
I had the same problem and once I logged out of the terminal and logged back in all was good. — IvanD, Nov 15 '18 at 23:08
Previously answered: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26908899/how-do-i-update-npm-on-windows/26908900#26908900 — Stephen Pham, Jul 29 '19 at 02:57
@StephenPham seems like it's a windows solution. No love for Macs? =( — Kelvin Zhao, Jun 12 '20 at 00:33
Try restarting your computer if you haven't already, or try `npm i npm --save`. Either of these could work. — ethry, Jul 01 '22 at 03:18

score 40 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 26 '19 at 07:28

40

Try closing the Terminal - once you open it again it should work, worked for me well.

*IvanD wrote this solution in a comment to the original post, I thought it's worth an answer post.

answered Apr 26 '19 at 07:28

Eking

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Thought I'd just add closing and opening, logging out and back in, shutting off and on the computer doesn't solve this issue. Apparently there was some hard pathing/aliasing issue happening. Only uninstalling and reinstalling node worked. – Kelvin Zhao Jun 12 '20 at 00:35

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 07 '18 at 14:01

30

I can 100% vouch this works.

I got this from someone who teaches node.js.

Give NVM (Node Version Manager) a try. Do the commands in the following ordrer:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.11/install.sh | bash
command -v nvm
nvm install node

finally confirm that the update was successful

npm -v

answered Nov 07 '18 at 14:01

fypnlp

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This is perfect solutions, you save my day – Jaydeep purohit Oct 20 '20 at 10:34
My pleasure :o) – fypnlp Dec 06 '20 at 17:16
happy to help you. – fypnlp Dec 19 '20 at 12:24
1

This should be the accepted answer – chobela Jan 24 '22 at 11:21
1

My Mac M1 now work!/Thanks – PKul Oct 24 '22 at 18:45

score 20 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 09 '20 at 13:22

Let's do a better solution if all of the mention methods not help you:

You need to install nvm (Node Version Manager)

After that just run:

nvm install 14

list your versions to see is version installed

nvm ls

and you will get list like this:

        v10.2.0
       v12.18.3
->     v14.10.0
         system
default -> 14.10.0 (-> v14.10.0)
node -> stable (-> v14.10.0) (default)
stable -> 14.10 (-> v14.10.0) (default)
iojs -> N/A (default)
unstable -> N/A (default)
lts/* -> lts/erbium (-> v12.18.3)
lts/argon -> v4.9.1 (-> N/A)
lts/boron -> v6.17.1 (-> N/A)
lts/carbon -> v8.17.0 (-> N/A)
lts/dubnium -> v10.22.0 (-> N/A)
lts/erbium -> v12.18.3

Switch default version like this:

nvm alias default 14.10.0

And check:

node -v

If print v14.10.0 you are ready to rock, if not:

nvm use 14

and check again.

This need to work like a charm and you will be happy.

Tried multiple approaches to install the latest version(s), All got successfully installed, Still the `node -v` call was pointing to the old version 16.X instead of my expectation 18.X. The `nvm use 18` helped me. Thanks a lot :) — Aravinth, Jul 01 '23 at 10:39

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 01 '18 at 13:17

9

Check your /usr/local/lib folder. I had the same problem and a node_modules folder in here. After removing it and rerunning [sudo] npm install npm@latest -g it showed and used the correct version.

answered Jul 01 '18 at 13:17

Jannis Hell

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered May 03 '18 at 00:24

6

sudo npm install -g n

If you want latest stable version

sudo n stable

If you want the latest version

sudo n latest

Then restart computer

answered May 03 '18 at 00:24

Ayush Mahajan

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I tried the command you mentioned and as it did before, it does say that it has updated 1 package and it's now + npm@6.0.0 but when I do a npm -v command, i see that it is still 5.6.0. So I'm quite confused as it always is able to update without errors, but upon checking -v it is still the old verison. – Kelvin Zhao May 03 '18 at 13:22
1

i had same problem, restart was all I had to do. – Ayush Mahajan May 03 '18 at 15:53
1

This shouldn't be downvoted... nobody mentioned that you need to restart your computer to get it to apply the changes. +1 – jscul Dec 28 '18 at 00:45
Just log out and log in again! – sneaky Oct 08 '19 at 10:24
1

@jscul restarting, logging out and in, closing and opening terminal, all these didn't work as there was a pathing/aliasing issue that caused this for me. Only a full uninstall of node worked. – Kelvin Zhao Jun 12 '20 at 00:37

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 15 '19 at 06:32

I had this issue today with Node installer node-v10.16.0-x64.msi. Even after installing it I got the node version from npm -v as 3.10... and my react app would fail to start :(

It seems that node creates a folder in APPDATA at %AppData%\Roaming\npm There was an old npm.exe lying there and this was in my Windows Path at user level. The user level Path overrides the system level Path where the new installer had added its path. The user override caused the new npm to not be found. Solution: Shift-Delete %AppData%\Roaming\npm ! :D Remove and reinstall with node-v10.16.0-x64.msi

Now npm -v gives 6.9.0!

yea, it seems that uninstalling/installing is the way to solve this, other attempts are all futile for me too — Kelvin Zhao, Jul 08 '19 at 06:31

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 10 '18 at 18:00

1

If you have tried all the mentioned approach like :- sudo npm install -g n sudo n stable

or

sudo npm install npm@latest -g still npm -v showing you the older version, once try to close your terminal and open a new one and check.

answered Oct 10 '18 at 18:00

Gitesh kumar Jha

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 17 '20 at 19:12

Though this is an old question and the answer might not be relevant but I found myself into such situation many time, sometimes restarting the server is not a solution because other process will get effected. So you need to refresh the terminal without actually restarting the server and for that you may run exec bash and that will certainly help.

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Nov 19 '20 at 09:22

1

I found this command line that worked for me.

Update from version 12.18 to the latest version 15.2 correctly.

I hope this is useful:

nvm install node --reinstall-packages-from=node

edited Nov 19 '20 at 09:22

Elletlar

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answered Nov 19 '20 at 04:49

Francisco Javier Araya Hernand

11
2

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 07 '21 at 13:41

I faced a similar issue. I had node v14.15.4 installed on ubuntu 18, but when i used node -v it showed v11.0.0. To check all the node versions available on your system using nvm, use

nvm ls

To set the newly installed node version as the default, use

nvm alias default <version>

Then, just close the terminal and open a new terminal to check the node version.

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered May 22 '21 at 15:56

Problem summary

npm -v # 6.xx
npm install npm@latest -g
npm -v # still the same, but should be 7.xx

Solution based on the answer of fypnlp.

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.11/install.sh | bash

The terminal now wants to configure some ~/.zshrc file which I don't have on my Mac yet. So let’s create it

nano ~/.zshrc

and paste

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

Now restart the terminal and run

command -v nvm # should return "nvm"
nvm install node
npm -v # now it’s 7.xx yay!

```nvm install node``` worked for me. Thanks for it – sachin singh jagawat May 12 '23 at 10:33 — sachin singh jagawat, May 12 '23 at 10:33

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 03 '18 at 00:41

0

I think your question is replecated and already has an answer. First, The LTS and current version of NPM is 5.6.0 for both Node 8.11.1 (LTS) and Node 10.0.0 (Latest current version) according to the official documentation.

Otherwise, sudo npm install npm@latest -g should install the latest version NPM globally.

answered May 03 '18 at 00:41

Rafik

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I've already done sudo npm install npm@latest -g and on my terminal it does say that updated package to +npm6.0.0, but as I mentioned in the initial question when I do a npm -v, I again see that it is 5.6.0. – Kelvin Zhao May 03 '18 at 13:21

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 24 '20 at 09:03

0

Search for a node_modules folder in your home directory, rename it or delete it, then try again.

answered Apr 24 '20 at 09:03

Marcelo Espinosa

103
4

score 0 · Answer 14 · edited Jun 08 '20 at 04:38

0

First uninstall your installed nodejs from Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features.
Delete nodejs folder from the Program Files (x86) folder.
Now install new version and check it once.

edited Jun 08 '20 at 04:38

Hoppo

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answered Jun 07 '20 at 18:48

user13701769

1

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 19 '20 at 11:26

I was facing the same error today.Updated npm version does not reflect.

This is how I resolved it.

A lot of post suggested to use the command npm cache clean --f. But, it did not work for me. Hence, I deleted the "npm" and "npm-cache" folders from the location C:\Users\SearchYourUserName\AppData\Roaming
Uninstalled the existing node.
Re-Installed node version v10.x.x. I downloaded the node-v10.22.1-x64.msi file from https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-v10.x/ and installed it.

Then checked the npm version. It had worked.

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 12 '21 at 09:19

Actually this could be happening due to mistakes like you installing packages using yarn ex:

// update the version number in package.json then
yarn install

and trying to run scripts using npm like

npm run start

Actually I did this mistake. So make sure to use either yarn or npm, but not both.

score 0 · Answer 17 · edited Jul 01 '22 at 05:03

I have this same symptom but none of the answers helped and I finally found the issue. It may not be exactly the same as the OP's but I think it is along the same lines. @Kelvin Zhao's solution of un-installing and re-installing worked for him but not for me so this might be useful for others.

My issue ended up being that I use brew and (I can't remember how exactly) but I seem to be have an old version in the brew Celler. Brew didn't know about it, or couldn't tell me as I do a brew uninstall node and it says its doesn't exist. When I run node -v or npm -v I get the old versions.

I uninstalled and reinstalled using brew and npm and sudo npm etc didn't do it. it showed the correct versions being installed but node -v still showed the old.

Turns out there is a version in my /usr/local/Celler directory named node@14.

So running brew uninstall node@14 got rid of that and now node -v doesn't work anymore.

Now re-installing node works. brew install node

More info for further details for those interested.

I wanted to find out where I still had node installed so I did echo $PATH as it had to be somewhere in the path else node -v wouldn't be recognised.

Turns out I had /usr/local/opt/node@14 in my path (which linked to /usr/local/Celler/node@14)

That is how I found it. And now I think I remember how it got there. I'm 90% sure that I did an upgrade of node and brew asked what to do with the old version and I think I said to keep it. And that was my mistake that lead me here (and where I think OP's situation differs)

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Jul 14 '22 at 07:26

0

In my case, I wanted to use Version 18 and it was showing 16. I'm using homebrew on my mac and the command that worked for me was the following:

brew uninstall node@16

And voila the version that was showing after is 18.

answered Jul 14 '22 at 07:26

Mailing Delgado

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2

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Jan 04 '23 at 18:32

I had issue with VS Code when I did nvm alias in its own terminal, even after ran alias command, the version kept switching back to old version even I open a new terminal within the VS Code. But as stupid as it sounds, close and reopen the vscode for me worked, after I set the version in an independent terminal.

Npm updates sucessfully, but still shows old version

19 Answers19

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