Why can't I run a blank Cordova app in browser: You may not have the required environment or OS to run this project

Question

I'm following the Get Started tutorial on https://cordova.apache.org/#getstarted but I'm getting an error despite following the instructions clearly, this is what I did:

npm install -g cordova
cordova create myApp
cd myApp
cordova platform add browser
cordova run browser

but at the end of the last command, I get an error:

C:\code\cordova\test
λ cordova run browser
Running command: cmd "/s /c "C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\run.bat""
C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\node_modules\q\q.js:155
                throw e;
                      ^
Error: listen EACCES
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:746:11)
    at Server._listen2 (net.js:1139:19)
    at listen (net.js:1182:10)
    at Server.listen (net.js:1267:5)
    at module.exports (C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\src\server.js:134:8)
    at C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\src\platform.js:45:16
    at _fulfilled (C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\node_modules\q\q.js:834:54)
    at self.promiseDispatch.done (C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\node_modules\q\q.js:863:30)
    at Promise.promise.promiseDispatch (C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\node_modules\q\q.js:796:13)
    at C:\code\cordova\test\platforms\browser\cordova\node_modules\cordova-serve\node_modules\q\q.js:857:14
ERROR running one or more of the platforms: Error: cmd: Command failed with exit code 1
You may not have the required environment or OS to run this project

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?

I'm using NodeJS v0.12.7 and Cordova 5.4.0

Answer 1

Although the tutorial you linked says browser for some reason. I don't see it on their "supported platform list", try using a platform which you think you're going to develop for and see if you have the same issues.

Link to the platform list (odd that browser isn't listed): https://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/latest/guide/support/index.html

Answer 2

I have had a similar issue on my Debian 8.3 (jessie) with an installed Chromium from the offical debian package-sources.

The detailled error message was:

Error: Error executing "google-chrome --user-data-dir=/tmp/temp_chrome_user_data_dir_for_cordova http://localhost:8000/index.html": /bin/sh: 1: google-chrome: not found

To fix the issue, I have downloaded the (Google-) Chrome-Browser directly from their website, and installed the .deb-package.

After that I did a

cordova platform rm browser
cordova platform add browser
cordova build browser
cordova run browser

and it finally worked.

Summary:

Chromium doesn't work - use chrome