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All,

Am trying to get Node.js to work on Vista machine.

I installed Cygwin (as per the Github instructions) which appears to have been installed correctly. However, none of the commands are executing.

Are there any tutorials for the stages after the Cygwin installation?

PROBLEM: When any command is executed, I get 'Bash: command not found' error. Not even command like 'c:\cygwin\bin' is executing. When I type 'user' in cygwin command prompt, I get 'ntvdm has encountered an system error. Parameter incorrect'.

I thought the above error may be due to the firewall, disabling the firewall did not have any effect, running the program with admin rights also did not change the results...

Am confused and would love to get some guidance on what steps to go with next on getting Node.js up and running on a Windows Vista machine.

Many thanks,

UPDATE1:

We managed to make a bit more progress. It appears that we had not installed all the relevant files related to Cygwin. Upon re-download and reinstalled, it ran well, however, we have driven into another error. Error we get:

enter image description here

How to compile/install node.js(could not configure a cxx compiler!) (Ubuntu).

We followed the instructions as per the above thread (3rd post from top for Windows machines), however, we are still stuck at the same error.

Any guidance please?

Community
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Kayote
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3 Answers3

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Have you tried just using the Windows self contained binaries? http://node-js.prcn.co.cc/ This way you actually don't need to bother with Cygwin.

Jeremy Battle
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At first, i tried it your way too, using Cygwin. After smashing my head for the 10th time against a wall i just stopped trying and found a much cleaner solution.

I'm using VirtualBox running a Debain guest system to locally develop on my Windows 7 machine. Using VirtualBox, you can easily set up shared folders or port forwarding for node apps between your Windows machine and your Debian guest system.

Since you are using a plain Linux-system, all the compiling-pain is blown away.

If you plan to run node.js in production on a windows system: don't. I hardly believe node.js will be ever stable enough on windows-based systems using MINGW/Cygwin...

schaermu
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  • Thanks Schaermu. Any tutorials link for how & what to do after installing VirtualBox and getting NodeJs to start functioning? – Kayote Mar 24 '11 at 05:00
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People seem to run into problems with Cygwin because they think that they are using a Windows machine.

If you install Cygwin, and open a bash shell prompt using the Cygwin icon, you are now in a UNIX environment and everything works the same as it would on UNIX. That includes building node.js.

I think you added some info to the question and I can see your problem. Yes, normally on Cygwin it has been possible to build node.js just as you would on any UNIX system, but that is no longer possible on Windows 7. Before running ./configure you have to:

  1. Close all cygwin apps.
  2. Double-click on C:\Cygwin\bin\ash.exe
  3. Run ./rebaseall and when it completes, run ./perlrebase.
  4. exit from the ash shell window.

At this point Cygwin will be back to normal and you can ./configure and make install.

Michael Dillon
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  • Michael, surely the commands that I enter (as quoted on Github & Cygwin's website) should run... – Kayote Mar 24 '11 at 05:02