[Issue]: It doesn't install the runtime, although saying it did. (no admin privileges, powershell)

[jonasfroeller]

What happened?

Welcome to NVM for Windows v1.2.2
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm ls

No installations recognized.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm i 20
Downloading node.js version 20.18.3 (64-bit)...
Extracting node and npm...
Complete

Installation complete.
If you want to use this version, type:

nvm use 20.18.3
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm use 20.18.3
activation error: Version not installed. Run "nvm ls" to see available versions.

What did you expect to happen?

The version to be installed, if no errors are being thrown.

Version

1.2.0 or newer (Default)

Which version of Windows?

Windows 11+ (Default)

Which locale?

Western European

Which shell are you running NVM4W in?

PowerShell

User Permissions?

Standard Use, Non-Elevated

Is Developer Mode enabled?

Yes

Relevant log/console output

Welcome to NVM for Windows v1.2.2
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm ls

No installations recognized.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm i 20
Downloading node.js version 20.18.3 (64-bit)...
Extracting node and npm...
Complete

Installation complete.
If you want to use this version, type:

nvm use 20.18.3
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm use 20.18.3
activation error: Version not installed. Run "nvm ls" to see available versions.

Debug Output

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nvm debug
Jonas is not using admin or elevated rights, but windows developer mode is
enabled. Most commands will still work unless Jonas lacks rights to
modify the C:\nvm\nodejs symlink.
Error getting console handle: Der Vorgang wurde erfolgreich beendet.
Windows Version:        10.0 (Build 22631)

Windows Developer Mode: ON

NVM4W Version:          1.2.2
NVM4W Author Bridge:    1.0.1
NVM4W Path:             A:\nvm\nvm.exe
NVM4W Settings:         A:\nvm\settings.txt
NVM_HOME:               A:\nvm
NVM_SYMLINK:            C:\nvm\nodejs
Node Installations:     A:\nvm
Default Architecture:   64-bit
Mirrors:                No mirrors configured
HTTP Proxy:             none

Total Node.js Versions: 1
Active Node.js Version: none
(run "nvm use <version>" to activate a version)
NVM_SYMLINK does not exist yet. This is auto-created when "nvm use" is run.

PROBLEMS DETECTED
-----------------
Connection type cannot be determined: dial tcp [::1]:80: connectex: Es konnte keine Verbindung hergestellt werden, da der Zielcomputer die Verbindung verweigerte.


⚠️  NVM for Windows will eventually be succeeded by Author/Runtime

Anything else?

It works, when I run it as admin, but I expected some sort of error to be thrown, that I don't have the privileges.

[developerantoniosousa]

Hi @jonasfroeller!

I had that same problem and fixed by running powershell with admin privileges. If that's an option for you, probably that may solve.

[jonasfroeller]

@developerantoniosousa Yes, that worked for me too! Thank you for your comment. I included that in "Anything else?". The main issue and the reason why I created this issue is the lack of feedback when it doesn't work without administrator privileges.

[tomazgit]

Same here. If I run it as an admin, it works, but if I run it as a normal user, I get the error:
activation error: Version not installed. Run "nvm ls" to see available versions.

[coreybutler]

I think it's reasonable to request a more specific error message.

The root cause of a failure is not always immediately clear. For example, the error returned by the OS may be that it cannot write to disk. That could be a permission issue, but it could also be a networking issue (mapped drives/USB drive, etc). We'd need to run a battery of tests to determine the root cause. This is something I'd very much like to add, but I'm not sure when I'll have time to do it.

[Sammaye]

I even ran with admin and it didn't work for me, I ended up having to revert to 1.1.x where it does work for me.

[lihanspace]

nvm i 20 works, but nvm install v20.19.0 does not work.

nvm install v20.19.0
Downloading node.js version 20.19.0 (64-bit)... 
Extracting node and npm...
Complete

Installation complete.
If you want to use this version, type:

nvm use 20.19.0

nvm list

  * 22.14.0 (Currently using 64-bit executable)


nvm i 20
Downloading node.js version 20.19.0 (64-bit)... 
Extracting node and npm...
Complete
Installation complete.
If you want to use this version, type:

nvm use 20.19.0

nvm list   

  * 22.14.0 (Currently using 64-bit executable)
    20.19.0

[petar-kolev]

In admin mode:

Downloading node.js version 22.15.0 (64-bit)...
Extracting node and npm...
Complete

Installation complete.
If you want to use this version, type:

nvm use 22.15.0
PS C:\Windows\system32> nvm use 22.15.0
activation error: Version not installed. Run "nvm ls" to see available versions.

PS C:\Windows\system32> nvm ls
No installations recognized.

BUT when I did it like this it worked:

nvm i 22
nvm use 22

[wowo404]

I even ran with admin and it didn't work for me, I ended up having to revert to 1.1.x where it does work for me.

i had same problem,and i tried all the means as this issue's comments,at last, your method worked for me.

[petar-kolev]

I even ran with admin and it didn't work for me, I ended up having to revert to 1.1.x where it does work for me.

i had same problem,and i tried all the means as this issue's comments,at last, your method worked for me.

The good thing about this is after performing it the way I suggested, afterwards works fine when installing a specific versions :)

[TyMick]

Another data point in case it helps: When trying to install Node.js v22.11.0 with NVM v1.2.2, nvm install 22.11.0 silently failed as described, but surprisingly, nvm install 22.11 worked.