Encountering issues while trying to set up Playwright via npm

Other Questions NPM
1

I’m having trouble getting Playwright to work on my system. When I run the command to set it up in the VSCode terminal, I get an error message. It says something about scripts being disabled and mentions execution policies. Here’s what I typed:

npm init playwright@latest

And this is the error I got:

File C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled 
on this system. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies at [link removed]
At line:1 char:1

It also shows some other info like CategoryInfo and FullyQualifiedErrorId. I’m not sure what to do next. Has anyone else run into this problem? How can I fix it so I can install Playwright?

2

hey, id try opening cmd instead of powershell. npm commands run better there. or if u want powershell, run it as admin and bypass the policy. hope that helps!

3

The error you’re encountering derives from PowerShell’s security settings. Windows has a built-in execution policy that by default restricts running scripts. To overcome this, you can temporarily allow scripts by starting PowerShell as an administrator and then running the command Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass. Once you’ve executed this command, try running npm init playwright@latest again. If you prefer not to change PowerShell settings, using the standard Command Prompt for running npm commands is a good alternative. Always proceed carefully when modifying security configurations.

4

I’ve been in your shoes before, and it can be frustrating. The issue stems from Windows PowerShell’s default security settings. Here’s what worked for me:

Instead of using PowerShell, try opening a regular Command Prompt. You can do this by searching for ‘cmd’ in the Start menu. Once you’ve got the Command Prompt open, navigate to your project directory and run the npm command there.

If you still prefer using PowerShell, you can temporarily bypass the execution policy for just that session. Open PowerShell as an administrator and run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

This will start a new PowerShell session where you can run your npm commands without issues.

Remember, it’s always a good idea to be cautious when changing security settings. Only run scripts from sources you trust.