[BUG] npm install always hangs on first attempt

[ZachSARAO]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

Using v10.9.0 that comes with Node v23.1.0, every npm install stop responding. Then I cancel the install, run npm install again and it works. This is on WSL Ubuntu 24 using nvm. Older versions of NPM seem to work fine.

I doubt that I am the only person experiencing this - if so then I can provide more details.

This is the output

(node:3911) ExperimentalWarning: CommonJS module /.../.nvm/versions/node/v23.1.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/debug/src/node.js is loading ES Module /.../.nvm/versions/node/v23.1.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/supports-color/index.js using require().
Support for loading ES Module in require() is an experimental feature and might change at any time
(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)

Expected Behavior

npm install should work.

Steps To Reproduce

Running npm install <package> or just npm install triggers this.

Environment

npm -v # 10.9.0
node -v # v23.1.0
OS: Ubuntu 24
System Model name: Dell XPS 9530

npm config ls gives me:

$ npm config list
; node bin location = /home/me/.nvm/versions/node/v23.1.0/bin/node
; node version = v23.1.0
; npm local prefix = /home/me/path/to/client
; npm version = 10.9.0
; cwd = /home/me/pat/to/client
; HOME = /home/me

[intersect2-0]

Experiencing same problem today, sometimes need to cancel and restart multiple times.
No visible errors.
npm install fastify --loglevel verbose
First run npm http fetch GET 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/split2 517ms (cache miss) and hangs.
Second run npm http fetch GET 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/split2 133ms (cache revalidated) and hangs.
Third run successful.

npm verbose os Linux 5.15.153.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
npm verbose node v22.11.0
npm verbose npm  v10.9.0

[kashif-raza2019]

I have been experiencing this same issue from quite a while intermittently, thought this might be network related issue but suddenly from past 4 hours now, it is giving me Exit handler error

npm ERR! Exit handler never called!

npm ERR! This is an error with npm itself. Please report this error at:
npm ERR!     <https://github.com/npm/cli/issues>

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: C:\Users\KASHIF RAZA\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2024-11-04T20_56_16_502Z-debug-0.log

Aborting installation.
  npm install has failed.

I have tried downgrading npm version to v9.9.3 but still no resolution.
Node version: v22.5.0

[stefanos82]

I have the same issue with both v20.18.0 and v22.11.0.

If we add --verbose at the end of npm install, we can clearly see it's an issue with caching revalidation by registry.npmjs.org; it hangs forever, unless you interrupt it and re-execute the command.

[BitPatty]

Same issue with npm 10.9.0 on node 22.11.0.

Workaround

Installing with --force appears to work consistently (further reinforcing the cache suspicion):

npm install --force

[mrdobalina2k]

I had the same issue. Using --force on npm install solved it.

[Tofandel]

This is a duplicate of #4028

npm install --force works because it bypasses checkPlatform checks, it's not a cache issue

You should downgrade to npm 10.3.0

[wraithgar]

This was fixed in npm 10.9.1 (via npm/npm-install-checks#120)