npm broken due to prefix option

[hohwille]

Actual behavior

ide install ng
...
Running command 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\npm.cmd' with arguments 'install' '-g' '@angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5' '--prefix' 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\node' ...
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-prefix.js'
    at Function._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1383:15)
    at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1025:19)
    at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1030:22)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1192:37)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:237:24)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:171:5)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:36:49 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v22.20.0
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js'
    at Function._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1383:15)
    at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1025:19)
    at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1030:22)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1192:37)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:237:24)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:171:5)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:36:49 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v22.20.0
Running command 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\npm.cmd' with arguments 'install' '-g' '@angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5' '--prefix' 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\node'
failed with exit code 1!
Step 'ide' ended with failure.
ide (install,ng) failed after PT1.936S

Running command 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\npm.cmd' with arguments 'install' '-g' '@angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5' '--prefix' 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\node'
failed with exit code 1!

Error: IDEasy failed with exit code 1

Reproduce

ide install ng

Expected behavior

Command should work without error.

IDEasy status

IDE_ROOT is set to D:/projects
IDE_HOME is set to D:/projects/project
You are online.
Your settings are up-to-date.
Your version of IDEasy is 2025.09.001-09_29_13-SNAPSHOT.
You are using a SNAPSHOT version of IDEasy. For stability consider switching to a stable release via 'ide upgrade --mode=stable'
Your version of IDEasy is 2025.09.001-09_29_13-SNAPSHOT but version 2025.07.001-20250723.025205-3 is available. Please run the following command to upgrade to the latest version:
ide upgrade
Your operating system is windows(10.0)@x64 [Windows 11@amd64]
Successfully completed ide (status)

Related/Dependent issues

#1513

Comments/Hints

No response

[hohwille]

$ npm install -g @angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5 --prefix /d/projects/IDEasy/software/node/

added 338 packages in 9s

67 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

So what is going on here?

[hohwille]

OK, works in bash but not in CMD:

D:\projects\IDEasy>D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\npm.cmd install -g @angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5 --prefix D:\projects\IDEasy\software\node
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-prefix.js'
    at Function._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1383:15)
    at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1025:19)
    at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1030:22)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1192:37)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:237:24)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:171:5)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:36:49 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v22.20.0
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js'
    at Function._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1383:15)
    at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1025:19)
    at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1030:22)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1192:37)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:237:24)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:171:5)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:36:49 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v22.20.0

No idea why...

[hohwille]

its crazy:

D:\projects\IDEasy>npm install -g @angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5 --prefix D:\projects\IDEasy\software\node

changed 338 packages in 8s

67 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

[hohwille]

OK, after running ide command in CMD rerunning the command failed.
But in bash it was using the npm from IDEasy project and working as well.

[hohwille]

OK, I start getting it: Same error in bash when npm.cmd is called but working via npm script.

$ npm.cmd install -g @angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5 --prefix /d/projects/IDEasy/software/node/

Causes same error.
So we can conclude that npm.cmd script is buggy.
What a mess.

[hohwille]

So it is not really the --prefix option but the fact if we use npm.cmd or npm:

$ npm.cmd install -g @angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-prefix.js'
    at Function._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1383:15)
    at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1025:19)
    at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1030:22)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1192:37)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:237:24)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:171:5)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:36:49 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v22.20.0
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js'
    at Function._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1383:15)
    at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1025:19)
    at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1030:22)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1192:37)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:237:24)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:171:5)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:36:49 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v22.20.0

[hohwille]

I did this:

ide -f uninstall node
ide -f uninstall npm

Then I reinstalled ng and it worked:

$ ide install ng
Artifact already exists at C:\Users\hohwille\Downloads\ide\default\node-v22.20.0-windows-x64.zip
To force update please delete the file and run again.
Extracting ZIP file C:\Users\hohwille\Downloads\ide\default\node-v22.20.0-windows-x64.zip to D:\projects\_ide\tmp\extract-node-v22.20.0-windows-x64.zip-37331
Extracting 100% [==============================================================] 94/94MiB (0:00:03 / 0:00:00) 31.4MiB/s
Successfully installed node in version v22.20.0

added 338 packages in 6s

67 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details
Successfully installed ng in version 21.0.0-next.5

So what do we do now? Close this bug as invalid or dont care?

[jan-vcapgemini]

Running command 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\npm\bin\npm.cmd' with arguments 'install' '-g' '@angular/cli@21.0.0-next.5' '--prefix' 'D:\projects\IDEasy\software\node' ...
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1386

The whole npm command software folder should not exist anymore. We've replaced the npm installation with node/npm.
Please try to remove npm from your software folder and re-install node.