Gruntfile won't load after Visual Studio update 15.8

Question

I updated Visual Studio to 15.8, and now I have the following error when trying to compile my less files using Task Runner Explorer:

Failed to run "C:\Projects\TFS Git Repo\Main\src\Ljmu.Web.UI\Gruntfile.js"...
cmd.exe /c grunt -b "C:\Projects\TFS Git Repo\Main\src\Ljmu.Web.UI" --gruntfile "C:\Projects\TFS Git Repo\Main\src\Ljmu.Web.UI\Gruntfile.js" --tasks "c:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio\2017\enterprise\common7\ide\extensions\microsoft\web tools\taskrunnerexplorer\Scripts" vs-grunt-task-reader
grunt[10096]: src\node_contextify.cc:631: Assertion `args[1]->IsString()' failed.
 1: 00007FF677EB82F5 
 2: 00007FF677E94156 
 3: 00007FF677E94221 
 4: 00007FF677E6A69A 
 5: 00007FF6784B5EB2 
 6: 00007FF6784B7008 
 7: 00007FF6784B636D 
 8: 00007FF6784B628B 
 9: 00000292D50841C1 

Any ideas welcome...

Edit

It works fine when running from the command line so I think it's just an issue with Task Runner Explorer.

Answer 1

The problem happens because the Visual Studio gulp is outdated.

Solution: Add the updated node to Visual Studio paths:

Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Web Package Management > External Web Tools

Then you need to add your node install directory to the top of the list, like so:

Node Path

This solved my problem.

Solution