What could cause an error related to npm not being able to find a file? No contents in my node_modules subfolder. Why is that?

Question

I'm trying to run npm install in the angular project folder I got from ASP.NET Boilerplate and I'm getting an error that is "related to npm not being able to find a file."

D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular>npm install npm WARN deprecated @types/[email protected]: This is a stub types definition for Moment (https://github.com/moment/moment). Moment provides its own type definitions, so you don't need @types/moment installed! npm WARN [email protected] requires a peer of @angular/compiler@^2.3.1 || >=4.0.0-beta <5.0.0 but none is installed. You must install peer dependencies yourself. npm WARN [email protected] requires a peer of @angular/core@^2.3.1 || >=4.0.0-beta <5.0.0 but none is installed. You must install peer dependencies yourself. npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: [email protected] (node_modules\fsevents): npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, rename 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\.staging\fsevents-8cc0601e\node_modules\are-we-there-yet' -> 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\.staging\are-we-there-yet-cedb4a6a'  npm ERR! path D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\typescript npm ERR! code ENOENT npm ERR! errno -4058 npm ERR! syscall rename npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\typescript' -> 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\.typescript.DELETE' 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!     C:\Users\Jack\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2018-03-21T19_33_18_250Z-debug.log 

I can clearly see that this is happening because my node_modules subfolder contains only a single folder structure with no files within it. That structure is:

node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules 

I have node 8.9.4, npm 5.6.0, and angular-CLI 1.5.0 installed as well as typescript 2.0.0. The latter two packages have been installed globally.

Here are the package.json file contents:

{     "name": "MyProject",     "version": "0.0.0",     "license": "MIT",     "angular-cli": {},     "scripts": {         "ng": "ng",         "start": "ng serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4200",         "hmr": "ng serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4200 4201 --hmr -e=hmr",         "test": "ng test",         "pree2e": "webdriver-manager update --standalone false --gecko false",         "e2e": "protractor"     },     "private": true,     "dependencies": {         "@angular/animations": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/common": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/compiler": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/core": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/forms": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/http": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/platform-browser": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "^5.0.3",         "@angular/router": "^5.0.3",         "@aspnet/signalr": "1.0.0-preview1-28189",         "@types/bootstrap": "^3.3.33",         "@types/jquery": "^3.2.12",         "@types/jquery.blockui": "0.0.28",         "@types/jquery.validation": "^1.16.3",         "@types/lodash": "^4.14.62",         "@types/moment": "^2.13.0",         "@types/moment-timezone": "^0.2.34",         "@types/signalr": "^2.2.33",         "@types/toastr": "^2.1.33",         "abp-ng2-module": "^1.3.0",         "abp-web-resources": "^3.3.0",         "animate.css": "^3.5.2",         "block-ui": "^2.70.1",         "bootstrap": "^3.3.7",         "bootstrap-select": "^1.12.2",         "chart.js": "^2.6.0",         "core-js": "^2.4.1",         "famfamfam-flags": "^1.0.0",         "flot": "^0.8.0-alpha",         "font-awesome": "^4.7.0",         "jquery": "^3.1.1",         "jquery-countto": "^1.2.0",         "jquery-migrate": "^3.0.0",         "jquery-slimscroll": "^1.3.8",         "jquery-sparkline": "^2.4.0",         "js-cookie": "^2.1.4",         "lodash": "^4.17.4",         "moment": "^2.18.1",         "moment-timezone": "^0.5.13",         "morris.js": "^0.5.0",         "ngx-bootstrap": "^2.0.2",         "ngx-pagination": "^3.0.3",         "node-waves": "^0.7.5",         "push.js": "1.0.4",         "raphael": "^2.2.7",         "rxjs": "^5.5.2",         "signalr": "^2.2.1",         "simple-line-icons": "^2.4.1",         "spin.js": "^2.3.2",         "sweetalert": "^2.0.8",         "toastr": "^2.1.2",         "ts-helpers": "^1.1.2",         "web-animations-js": "^2.3.1",         "zone.js": "0.8.18"     },     "devDependencies": {         "@angular/cli": "^1.5.4",         "@angular/compiler-cli": "^5.0.3",         "@angularclass/hmr": "^2.1.3",         "@types/jasmine": "^2.5.38",         "@types/node": "^8.0.27",         "codelyzer": "^3.1.2",         "jasmine-core": "^2.5.2",         "jasmine-spec-reporter": "^4.2.1",         "karma": "^1.4.1",         "karma-chrome-launcher": "^2.0.0",         "karma-cli": "^1.0.1",         "karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "^1.3.0",         "karma-jasmine": "^1.1.0",         "karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "^0.2.2",         "nswag": "^11.12.7",         "protractor": "^5.1.1",         "ts-node": "^3.3.0",         "tslint": "^5.7.0",         "typescript": "2.4.2"     } } 

When I run npm install, I can see the packages being downloaded into the .staging folder. At the point that the finalize command is run (see the log below), I can see that the package folders are being consolidated and copied somewhere, but that somewhere does not appear to be my node_modules subfolder other than the first set of subfolders as I have shown above. When the npm install completes, the .staging folder is deleted and all that I have left is that partial folder structure.

Admittedly I am new to Node development - I usually work on our ASP.NET Web API backends. I'm trying to get my development environment in sync with our front-end developer's development environment. I have spent most of the day looking for a solution. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling Node. I've tried different versions that match our front-end developer's environment. I've tried using the latest versions of angular-CLI and typescript and have fallen back to the versions I reference above in hopes that the "requires a peer" warnings would be resolved. I have searched for similar answers on this site. The closest one I have found remains unanswered.

Here is the end of the "complete log" referenced in the npm error output:

19577 silly saveTree | `-- [email protected] 19577 silly saveTree +-- [email protected] 19577 silly saveTree +-- [email protected] 19577 silly saveTree `-- [email protected] 19578 warn [email protected] requires a peer of @angular/compiler@^2.3.1 || >=4.0.0-beta <5.0.0 but none is installed. You must install peer dependencies yourself. 19579 warn [email protected] requires a peer of @angular/core@^2.3.1 || >=4.0.0-beta <5.0.0 but none is installed. You must install peer dependencies yourself. 19580 warn optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: [email protected] (node_modules\fsevents): 19581 warn optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, rename 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\.staging\fsevents-8cc0601e\node_modules\are-we-there-yet' -> 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\.staging\are-we-there-yet-cedb4a6a' 19582 verbose optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: 19582 verbose optional Please try running this command again as root/Administrator. 19583 verbose stack Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\typescript' -> 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\.typescript.DELETE' 19584 verbose cwd D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular 19585 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.16299 19586 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" 19587 verbose node v8.9.4 19588 verbose npm  v5.6.0 19589 error path D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\typescript 19590 error code ENOENT 19591 error errno -4058 19592 error syscall rename 19593 error enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\typescript' -> 'D:\Dev\AspNetBoilerplate\MyProject\3.5.0\angular\node_modules\@angular-devkit\build-optimizer\node_modules\.typescript.DELETE' 19594 error enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file. 19595 verbose exit [ -4058, true ] 

Please advise.

Answer 1

The following steps work for me:

1. npm cache clean -f
2. rm -rf node_modules
3. npm i