listen EACCES: permission denied in windows

Question

Everything was worked fine before today evening after i uninstalled vscode and installed again I'm facing this issue while try to run npm run app i have no clue how to fix this i tried to run vs code and command prompt or bash using run as administrator but no luck, i see lot of fixes out there for this issue but most of them are for mac they fixed it using sudo but i don't see any good fix for windows it would be appreciated much if anyone will help me fix this

//this issue this my server code 
const express = require("express");
const app = express()
const port = process.env || 8080

app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.send("Hello");
});



app.listen(port,()=>{
  console.log("running on 8080")
})

and this is the complete error

events.js:187
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: listen EACCES: permission denied C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\node-gyp-bin;D:\BookStore\node_modules\.bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\local\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Library\mingw-w64\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Library\usr\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Library\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Scripts;C:\Python27;C:\Python27\Scripts;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\python.exe;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\4.0\bin;C:\Program Files\heroku\bin;C:\nvm;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Python 3.8;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Yarn\bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\vendor_perl;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\core_perl
    at Server.setupListenHandle [as _listen2] (net.js:1283:19)
    at listenInCluster (net.js:1348:12)
    at Server.listen (net.js:1447:5)
    at Function.listen (D:\BookStore\node_modules\express\lib\application.js:618:24)
    at Object.<anonymous> (D:\BookStore\app.js:11:5)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:956:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:973:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:812:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:724:14)
    at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1025:10)
Emitted 'error' event on Server instance at:
    at emitErrorNT (net.js:1327:8)
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:80:21) {
  code: 'EACCES',
  errno: 'EACCES',
  syscall: 'listen',
  address: "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\npm-lifecycle\\node-gyp-bin;D:\\BookStore\\node_modules\\.bin;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\mingw64\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\usr\\local\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\usr\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\usr\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\mingw64\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\usr\\bin;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\bin;C:\\ProgramData\\Miniconda3;C:\\ProgramData\\Miniconda3\\Library\\mingw-w64\\bin;C:\\ProgramData\\Miniconda3\\Library\\usr\\bin;C:\\ProgramData\\Miniconda3\\Library\\bin;C:\\ProgramData\\Miniconda3\\Scripts;C:\\Python27;C:\\Python27\\Scripts;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python38-32\\python.exe;C:\\Program Files\\nodejs;C:\\ProgramData\\chocolatey\\bin;C:\\WINDOWS\\system32;C:\\WINDOWS;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\Wbem;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0;C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\OpenSSH;C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Yarn\\bin;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps;C:\\Program Files\\MongoDB\\Server\\4.0\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\heroku\\bin;C:\\nvm;C:\\Program Files\\nodejs;C:\\Python 3.8;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\AppData\\Local\\Yarn\\bin;C:\\Users\\Samarth's PC\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\usr\\bin\\vendor_perl;C:\\Program Files\\Git\\usr\\bin\\core_perl",
  port: -1
}
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! [email protected] start: `node app.js "app"`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] start script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2019-12-20T16_43_00_131Z-debug.log

//Error log is here
0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [
1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
1 verbose cli   'start',
1 verbose cli   'app'
1 verbose cli ]
2 info using [email protected]
3 info using [email protected]
4 verbose run-script [ 'prestart', 'start', 'poststart' ]
5 info lifecycle [email protected]~prestart: [email protected]
6 info lifecycle [email protected]~start: [email protected]
7 verbose lifecycle [email protected]~start: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
8 verbose lifecycle [email protected]~start: PATH: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\node-gyp-bin;D:\BookStore\node_modules\.bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\local\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Library\mingw-w64\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Library\usr\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Library\bin;C:\ProgramData\Miniconda3\Scripts;C:\Python27;C:\Python27\Scripts;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\python.exe;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\4.0\bin;C:\Program Files\heroku\bin;C:\nvm;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Python 3.8;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Yarn\bin;C:\Users\Samarth's PC\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\vendor_perl;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\core_perl
9 verbose lifecycle [email protected]~start: CWD: D:\BookStore
10 silly lifecycle [email protected]~start: Args: [ '/d /s /c', 'node app.js "app"' ]
11 silly lifecycle [email protected]~start: Returned: code: 1  signal: null
12 info lifecycle [email protected]~start: Failed to exec start script
13 verbose stack Error: [email protected] start: `node app.js "app"`
13 verbose stack Exit status 1
13 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\index.js:332:16)
13 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:210:5)
13 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\lib\spawn.js:55:14)
13 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:210:5)
13 verbose stack     at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1021:16)
13 verbose stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:283:5)
14 verbose pkgid [email protected]
15 verbose cwd D:\BookStore
16 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.18362
17 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "start" "app"
18 verbose node v12.13.0
19 verbose npm  v6.12.0
20 error code ELIFECYCLE
21 error errno 1
22 error [email protected] start: `node app.js "app"`
22 error Exit status 1
23 error Failed at the [email protected] start script.
23 error This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
24 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Answer 1

Hi anyone who comes here and don't find any answer. I have an answer that I think will help. it fixed the issue for me. there is cases where nothing is running on the port but some applications or even your code can not run the fix to this is in this order:

1. Open PowerShell as Admin.

2. stop winnat with command below:

$ net stop winnat

3. start winnat again with command below:

$ net start winnat

this fixed the problem for me in many cases. no restart needed. I hope it will help you too.

Edit: I dig in the problem and found out the problem is the port isn't closed in the right way that could be caused easily based on killing the terminal window or the app running on the port.

Answer 2

For me this is constantly happening when Windows 10 has some pending updates. To fix this i need to install all pending updates and reboot 1-2 times during the process.