How to install NodeJS project locally without internet connection?

Question

I have a project which I will have to deploy to client Windows systems where it will not be possible to connect to internet. I currently have a folder in D:\NODE which contains node.exe and npm.cmd and a node_modules folder. To be able to run node from command line I have added D:\NODE to PATH variable.

I can have most of the modules installed locally inside node_modules of my project. However there's one - node-windows - which needs to be installed globally to work.

Following suggestion below I went to node-windows (installed globally) and packaged it up (npm pack), which created a tarball. I have then copied that file with my project and tried to install it on the test machine globally like this: npm install -g node-windows-0.1.5.tgz

I can see that it got installed in the global directory. However when I try to run the command which uses this module it complains that it cannot find it: Error: Cannot find module 'node-windows'

When I list the modules (npm list -g) it is clearly there in the list...

What do you think? And thank you.

Answer 1

You can install packages on a system without internet connection by packing them using built-in functionality in npm. This way, the node modules will be installed properly.

1. Create a package.json.
2. In your package.json, list all the modules you need under bundledDependencies (docs on npm).
3. Run npm install to install your node files before packing.
4. Create a tarball with npm pack.
5. Copy the tarball over to the machine without internet connection.
6. Install the modules with npm install <filename>.

Update

Regarding your comments, it looks like your globally installed node modules isn't found.

Try using the npm link command (docs on npm link):

1. cd yourAppFolder
2. npm link node-windows

Answer 2

1 - In system with internet access install module with this command:

npm install [module name] 

2 - go to %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules[module name]\ (e.g C:\Users\janson\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\grunt-cli)
3 - run npm pack
4 - this should result in a [module name]-x.y.z.tgz file
5 - run npm i -g [module name]-x.y.z.tgz in offline system