I have 2 versions of node installed on my coding environment and can't update the older version

Question

I use vagrant and installed it first day of a bootcamp I took. I'm now trying to learn react but the installed version of node is too low to use npx/npm. I've tried a ton of different things, looked up different videos and I'm at a wall. I now have nodeJS version 12, and node v7 and my environment seems to just default to v7 and I can't sudo apt remove it

Answer 1

Well, I think there are 2 steps to resolve your issue, more or less it will help you in a long run.

1. Uninstall all the node installed

You can follow this guide on SO to do the removal steps: How do I completely uninstall Node.js, and reinstall from beginning (Mac OS X)

5 mentioned steps are enough to make sure your dev is clean of node.

This will revert your development back to default environment. After that, just dont install any new node like the old way you did.

2. Install nvm to manage node version management

Go to https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm and follow their installation guide.

Basically this tool will help to manage your node version on your machine. You can install multi version and choose which one to work on, depend on your specific needs.

The installation guide is quite easy to follow, for some Mac OS user there might have some slight tweaks, but it's not that difficult.

Hope this help,

Answer 2

nvm 100% solved the issue. Was able to use it to update the one that wasnt updating, and i was able to uninstall the unused version. Unfortunately i could never get create-react-app to work. Its something to do with a node_module folder installed in my root files that i cant find and delete so it crashed every time i try to create react app. But i think i can just use cdn to create a react app so i guess its not that important, at least i have npm/npx if i need it