npm start errors with ERR! code ENOENT, syscall open

Question

I'm suddently having a problem with "npm start" in my React application. When I trigger it, this is what I receive:

npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall open
npm ERR! path /mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json'
npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/palnic/.npm/_logs/2020-02-20T11_30_39_463Z-debug.log

This is the debug.log:

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ '/usr/bin/node', '/usr/bin/npm', 'start' ]
2 info using [email protected]
3 info using [email protected]
4 verbose stack Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json'
5 verbose cwd /mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json
6 verbose Linux 4.4.0-18362-Microsoft
7 verbose argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "start"
8 verbose node v12.13.1
9 verbose npm  v6.13.7
10 error code ENOENT
11 error syscall open
12 error path /mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json
13 error errno -2
14 error enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json'
15 error enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
16 verbose exit [ -2, true ]

I tried the following solution:

sudo npm install -g npm     //(ok!)
sudo npm cache clean   //(not working if not using --force flag)

And then npm install returns:

npm WARN saveError ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json'
npm WARN enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/mnt/c/Users/pal/Desktop/dev/myApp/package.json'
npm WARN myApp No description
npm WARN myApp No repository field.
npm WARN myApp No README data
npm WARN myApp No license field.

up to date in 0.454s
found 0 vulnerabilities

My npm version is: 6.13.7

This is my package.json

{
  "name": "myApp",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^4.2.4",
    "@testing-library/react": "^9.4.0",
    "@testing-library/user-event": "^7.2.1",
    "firebase": "^7.7.0",
    "node-sass": "^4.13.1",
    "react": "^16.12.0",
    "react-dom": "^16.12.0",
    "react-redux": "^7.1.3",
    "react-router-dom": "^5.1.2",
    "react-scripts": "3.3.0",
    "react-stripe-checkout": "^2.6.3",
    "redux": "^4.0.5",
    "redux-logger": "^3.0.6",
    "redux-persist": "^6.0.0",
    "redux-saga": "^1.1.3",
    "redux-thunk": "^2.3.0",
    "reselect": "^4.0.0",
    "styled-components": "^5.0.0"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "react-scripts start",
    "build": "react-scripts build",
    "test": "react-scripts test",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject"
  },
  "eslintConfig": {
    "extends": "react-app"
  },
  "browserslist": {
    "production": [
      ">0.2%",
      "not dead",
      "not op_mini all"
    ],
    "development": [
      "last 1 chrome version",
      "last 1 firefox version",
      "last 1 safari version"
    ]
  }
}

ADo you have any ideas on the possible causes and the possible solutions?

Answer 1

Just cd to the app directory where package.json is and run npm start again.