MacOS NPM Installation Failing: Permission Denied Error

Other Questions NPM
1

I’m having trouble getting npm to work on my MacBook running MacOS Sequoia 15.4. Every time I try to install it, I run into a permission denied error. The error message mentions something about EACCES and not being able to rename a folder.

I’ve looked online for solutions and tried a few things:

  1. Used a version manager to reinstall npm
  2. Tried installing with Homebrew
  3. Attempted to change the default directory

But nothing seems to work. When I try to change the directory, my computer says the command doesn’t exist.

Here’s a snippet of what the error looks like:

npm error code EACCES
npm error syscall rename
npm error path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm
npm error dest /usr/local/lib/node_modules/.npm-randomString
npm error errno -13
npm error Error: EACCES: permission denied, rename '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm' -> '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/.npm-randomString'

Any ideas on how to fix this? I’m pretty stuck and could use some help!

2

yo pete, i had the same headache. try this:

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local/lib/node_modules

then run npm with the --unsafe-perm flag:

npm install -g npm --unsafe-perm

worked for me. if not, maybe check ur firewall settings? sometimes they mess with npm. good luck man!

3

I encountered a similar issue when setting up npm on my Mac. The key is to avoid using sudo for npm installations, as it can lead to permission problems down the line. Here’s what worked for me:

Change npm’s default directory to one you own. Run these commands in your terminal:

mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix ‘~/.npm-global’
echo ‘export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH’ >> ~/.zshrc

Then close and reopen your terminal. This should allow you to install packages globally without permission errors.

If you’re still having trouble, consider using Volta as an alternative to nvm. It’s faster and handles permissions well. You can install it with:

curl https://get.volta.sh | bash

Hope this helps resolve your npm woes!

4

Hey there, I’ve been through this nightmare before on my MacBook. The permission denied error is a real pain, but there’s a workaround that worked for me.

First, try installing npm using nvm (Node Version Manager). It handles permissions better. Here’s what I did:

  1. Install nvm using curl:
    curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash

  2. Close and reopen your terminal, then run:
    nvm install node

  3. Now you can use npm without sudo:
    npm install -g

If that doesn’t work, you might need to change ownership of the npm directories:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/lib/node_modules

This fixed it for me. Just be careful with sudo commands. Hope this helps!