npm install for some packages (sqlite3, socket.io) fail with error MSB8020 on Windows 7

Question

When trying to install some node.js packages (sqlite3 and socket.io in particular) using npm install socket.io on my Windows 7 machine with Visual Studio 2012 (

Answer 1

I have both Visual Studio Express 2013 and Visual Studio Community 2015 installed.

I was getting C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V120\Microsoft.Cpp.Platform.targets(64,5): error MSB8020: The build tools for v140 (Platform Toolset = 'v140') cannot be found. To build using the v140 build tools, please install v140 build tools. Alternatively, you may upgrade to the current Visual Studio tools by selecting the Project menu or right-click the solution, and then selecting "Upgrade Solution...". [G:\work\cinema\node_modules\engine.io\node_modules\bufferutil\build\bufferutil.vcxproj]

The reason was that the latest Node.js for Windows downloaded from https://nodejs.org contains an old npm v2 (and old node-gyp inside that npm v2).

I had to update Node.js'es internal npm (which also updated node-gyp):

(open console as an administrator)
cd "C:\Program Files\nodejs"
npm install npm@latest

npm config set msvs_version 2013

Now it works (seems that it's using VS 2013 for the time being)

Answer 2

To get around this on my machine I did this command to install the package:

npm install socket.io --msvs_version=2012

I found the answer here when having the problem with installing sqlite3 and it worked with socket.io as well.

These might be more permanent solutions to fix the problem:

1. Install Visual Studio 2010
2. Updating the npm internal copy to a newer version of node-gyp as described here and here (probably the better option although I didn't get it working but didn't try for too long)

Answer 3

TL;DR

If you DON'T want node-gyp to depend on your installed version of Visual Studio (or don't have VS installed), install windows-build-tools (see below). This will eliminate both the error and should avoid future issues when upgrading your installed version of Visual Studio.

If you DO want node-gyp to depend on your installed version of Visual Studio, then npm config set msvs_version 2015, substitute your version tag in place of 2015. Valid versions tags are: 2015,2014,2013,110,100

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Fixing using windows-build-tools

Per the node-gyp installation instructions, you can also do

npm install --global --production windows-build-tools from an ELEVATED command shell

This will install the strictly the Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools (this will be used in place of Visual Studio for compilation) required by node-gyp, and appropriately set msvs_version to the version just installed.

After installing, you should check that the msvs_version set by windows-build-tools has not been overridden. When executing npm config list, msvs_version should appear under ; globalconfig C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\npm\etc\npmrc; if it does not, the value set by windows-build-tools has been overridden and the overridden value should be deleted. npm config delete msvs_version should delete the overridden value and the one set by the build tools should appear under the global config section.

Answer 4

Another option is to change config instead of specifying msvs_version every time:

npm config set msvs_version 2012