Installing Windows NodeJS causes problems when running npx and npm in WSL

[bledking]

MDN URL

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Command_line

What specific section or headline is this issue about?

No response

What information was incorrect, unhelpful, or incomplete?

After installing WSL and VSCode + WSL integration I installed NodeJS with the Windows .msi installer. I then installed Prettier and ran into issues when trying to run npx prettier, it was giving an "invalid URL" error. And running npx only would open cmd.exe instead of staying in bash. I had issues with npm as well.

My first step to fix was uninstalling NodeJS from Windows and reinstalling it in WSL with apt. Second step was adding this (AI-suggested fix) to ~/.bashrc because my PATH was still messed up:

export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -e 's|/mnt/c/Program Files/nodejs:||' -e 's|/mnt/c/Users/bledk/AppData/Roaming/npm:||')

What did you expect to see?

Document should suggest to install NodeJS through WSL, not Windows installer.

Do you have any supporting links, references, or citations?

No response

Do you have anything more you want to share?

No response

MDN metadata

Page report details

• Folder: en-us/learn_web_development/getting_started/environment_setup/command_line
• MDN URL: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Command_line
• GitHub URL: https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/learn_web_development/getting_started/environment_setup/command_line/index.md
• Last commit: 5b20f5f
• Document last modified: 2024-12-19T15:37:45.000Z