Development server won't launch when running npm start

Other Questions NPM
1

I’m facing an issue with getting my React application to function as expected. I utilized Create React App to set up a new project, and everything appeared to install correctly. However, when I attempt to launch the development server, nothing occurs.

Let me walk you through my process:

  1. I installed create-react-app globally using npm install -g create-react-app.
  2. I generated a new project with create-react-app weather-dashboard.
  3. The installation went smoothly with no errors during the process.
  4. I navigated into the project directory using cd weather-dashboard.
  5. I executed npm start to initiate the development server.

The issue arises when I run npm start; the output shown is as follows, and then it simply stops:

> [email protected] start C:\Projects\weather-dashboard
> react-scripts start

There are no error messages, no browser launch, and the localhost server fails to start. It remains inactive. I’ve attempted to run this command in both Git Bash and Command Prompt, but the result is unchanged.

Upon reviewing my package.json, everything appears to be in order:

{
  "name": "weather-dashboard",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^4.2.4",
    "@testing-library/react": "^9.5.0",
    "@testing-library/user-event": "^7.2.1",
    "react": "^16.13.1",
    "react-dom": "^16.13.1",
    "react-scripts": "3.4.3"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "react-scripts start",
    "build": "react-scripts build",
    "test": "react-scripts test",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject"
  }
}

Additionally, I confirmed that the ignore-scripts option is set to false in npm configuration. What could be causing this problem? Any suggestions on how to resolve it?

2

had similar issue last month and it turned out to be antivirus software blocking the dev server from starting. check if windows defender or your antivirus is interfering with node processes. also try running cmd as administrator and see if that helps - sometimes its just a permissions thingg

3

This exact scenario happened to me twice on Windows machines, and both times it was related to Node.js version compatibility issues. The react-scripts version you’re running (3.4.3) can be finicky with certain Node versions. First thing I’d suggest is checking your Node version with node --version. If you’re running Node 15 or higher, that’s likely your culprit. React-scripts 3.4.3 has known issues with newer Node versions due to OpenSSL changes. Try downgrading to Node 14 LTS if possible, or alternatively, delete your node_modules folder and package-lock.json, then run npm install again. Sometimes the initial installation completes without errors but leaves corrupted dependencies. Another thing that worked for me was running npm start with the verbose flag: npm start -- --verbose. This usually reveals what’s actually happening behind the scenes when the process appears to hang.

4

I encountered this same silent failure pattern and discovered it was caused by environment variables interfering with the development server. Check if you have any CI/CD related environment variables set, particularly NODE_ENV. If NODE_ENV is set to production or any value other than development, it can cause react-scripts to behave unexpectedly. Run echo %NODE_ENV% on Windows command prompt to verify. Also worth trying to clear npm cache with npm cache clean --force before attempting to start again. In my case, the issue was resolved by unsetting the NODE_ENV variable and ensuring my system path didn’t have conflicting Node installations. The lack of error messages usually indicates the process is starting but failing silently due to configuration conflicts rather than dependency issues.