Troubleshooting

Windows

If you are experiencing issues running n8n with the typical flow of:

npx n8n

Requirements

Please ensure that you have the following requirements fulfilled:

• Install latest version of NodeJS (opens new window)
• Install Python 2.7 (opens new window) (It is okay to have multiple versions installed on the machine)
• Windows SDK
• C++ Desktop Development Tools
• Windows Build Tools

Install build tools

If you haven't satisfied the above, follow this procedure through your PowerShell (run with administrative privileges). This command installs the build tools, windows SDK and the C++ development tools in one package.

npm install --global --production windows-build-tools

Configure npm to use Python version 2.7

npm config set python python2.7

Configure npm to use correct msvs version

npm config set msvs_version 2017 --global

Lesser known issues:

mmmagic npm package when using MSbuild tools with Visual Studio

While installing this package, node-gyp is run and it might fail to install it with an error appearing in the ballpark of:

gyp ERR! stack Error: spawn C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\**Enterprise**\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe ENOENT

It is seeking the MSBuild.exe in a directory that does not exist. If you are using Visual Studio Community or vice versa, you can change the path of MSBuild with command:

npm config set msbuild_path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\**Community**\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"

Attempt to install package again after running the command above.