This is due to a PATH conflict that presents when the same application is installed multiple times.
Running node -v will always show the original installation version. If you do not uninstall the original version, running nvm use may appear to do nothing at all. This is not a problem if you choose a different symlink path (such as C:\nvm\node). If you attempt to configure the NVM_SYMLINK to use an existing directory (like C:\Program Files\nodejs), it will fail because a symlink cannot overwrite a physical directory. Once this process is complete, the original Node.js installation can be uninstalled without losing data. This includes global npm modules and configurations. To work around this, NVM for Windows installer attempts to copy the original Node.js installation files to the NVM root. The official NVM4W installer will attempt assume management of an existing installation of Node., but it cannot actually uninstall the original Node.js version. If you are working in a closed environment, such as a corporate Active Directory environment where installations/uninstallations are controlled by group policy, you should really consider removing the original version of Node before installing NVM4W.įor security reasons, Windows will not allow an application from one vendor to "uninstall" an application from a different vendor. If you have an administrative account, it's relatively safe to install NVM for Windows before uninstalling the original Node version. NVM for Windows can assume management of an existing installation, but there are nuances to this (dependent entirely on the permissions of the user running the installation). However you may not wish to nuke your Node installation if you've highly customized it. It avoids all of the pitfalls listed below. The simplest (recommended) way to get NVM for Windows running properly is to uninstall any prior Node installation before installing NVM for Windows. ⭐ ⭐ Uninstall any pre-existing Node installations!! ⭐ ⭐