Install npm packages in windows gives node-gyp error

[ghost]

Steps to Reproduce:

1. .\scripts\npm.bat install

npm ERR! node v7.4.0
npm ERR! npm  v4.0.5
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

npm ERR! oniguruma@6.1.1 install: `node-gyp rebuild`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the oniguruma@6.1.1 install script 'node-gyp rebuild'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the oniguruma package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     node-gyp rebuild
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR!     npm bugs oniguruma
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls oniguruma
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

[ghost]

8 warn optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: fsevents@0.3.8 (node_modules\fsevents):
36159 warn notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Unsupported platform for fsevents@0.3.8: wanted {"os":"darwin","arch":"any"} (current: {"os":"win32","arch":"x64"})
36160 verbose notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Valid OS:    darwin
36160 verbose notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Valid Arch:  any
36160 verbose notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Actual OS:   win32
36160 verbose notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Actual Arch: x64
36161 verbose stack Error: oniguruma@6.1.1 install: `node-gyp rebuild`
36161 verbose stack Exit status 1
36161 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (C:\Users\stefan.schneider\AppData\Local\nvs\node\7.4.0\x64\node_modules\npm\lib\utils\lifecycle.js:279:16)
36161 verbose stack     at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
36161 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:191:7)
36161 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Users\stefan.schneider\AppData\Local\nvs\node\7.4.0\x64\node_modules\npm\lib\utils\spawn.js:40:14)
36161 verbose stack     at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
36161 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:191:7)
36161 verbose stack     at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:885:16)
36161 verbose stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:226:5)
36162 verbose pkgid oniguruma@6.1.1
36163 verbose cwd D:\repositories\git\vscode
36164 error Windows_NT 10.0.14393

[ghost]

same for

npm ERR! node v6.11.0
npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

npm-debug.txt

[codeguy]

Can confirm when attempting to setup local environment for working on a pull request.

[dbaeumer]

I was able to solve this doing the following:

• use node 7.4.0
• git clean -xfd .build (PLEASE note the . in .build)
• git clean -xfd node_modules
  -git clean -xfd extensions
• scripts\npm install

[ghost]

For me it was necessary to also set the npm config set node_gyp manually to the node-gyp.js
And I also had to install with scripts/npm.bat i --msvs_version=2015 since I have more than one installed.

[i-give-up]

I had the same issue (I had VS Express 2008, Build Tools 2015, and Build Tools 2017 installed).

Thanks to con-ssc's post above, I resolved it using

scripts/npm.bat install --msvs_version=2015

alone. I didn't have to perform the npm config set node_gyp step.

---

To add some background information, here's what I think happened (at least in my case): according to this issue node-gyp doesn't currently support VS 2017 and falls back to VS 2015. However as the Readme for v3.6.2 says

Auto-detection fails for Visual C++ Build Tools 2015

so one would either have to do either one of these

• npm config set msvs_version 2015 (which I guess is what scripts/npm.bat i --msvs_version=2015 for this single session)
• node-gyp configure --msvs_version=2015 (not something we can specify directly when building VSCode)