npm ERR! code E401 npm ERR! Incorrect or missing password

Question

My Node version is 10.15.0 and NPM version is 6.8.4 On running npm install after upgrading npm to 14.16.0 and npm to 7.6.2

Getting this error -

npm ERR! code E401
npm ERR! Incorrect or missing password.
npm ERR! If you were trying to login, change your password, create an
npm ERR! authentication token or enable two-factor authentication then
npm ERR! that means you likely typed your password in incorrectly.
npm ERR! Please try again, or recover your password at:
npm ERR!     https://www.npmjs.com/forgot
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! If you were doing some other operation then your saved credentials are
npm ERR! probably out of date. To correct this please try logging in again with:
npm ERR!     npm login

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/xyz/.npm/_logs/2021-04-15T18_55_07_993Z-debug.log

Holmquist

In my case, I fixed this issue by adding a new Private Access Token in Azure DevOps. Then I had to Base64 encode it and add it to .npmrc ...Maybe this approach helps somebody else as well. – Nolpros

I had a similar problem connecting to an Azure DevOps feed. I ran this command to update my access token: vsts-npm-auth -F -C .npmrc – Liking

At last a great working solution !! thanks, @Liking – Anadromous

Answer 1

1. Try Deleting the package-lock.json file before running the command "npm install" after upgrading the node versions, if you have not done that.

2. If that will not work try removing the .npmrc file in $HOME directory as mentioned in this post.

NPM ERR Code E401: Unable to authenticate, need: Bearer authorization

Note - Deleting package-lock.json can have its own issues as mentioned in this posts, so go with this solution unless you find any better solution.

Deleting `package-lock.json` to Resolve Conflicts quickly

Casemaker

Yep I totally missed that. Removing the package-lock.json worked for me. Thanks! – Holmquist

See this SO answer for potential reasons why you may not want to delete package-lock.json. – Estafette

In my case, I fixed this issue by adding a new Private Access Token in Azure DevOps. Then I had to Base64 encode it and add it to .npmrc ...Maybe this approach helps somebody else as well. – Nolpros

Can you explain what's causing the issue in the first place? – Parclose

Answer 2

In the directory C/Users/your-windows-username/

delete the following files:

.cache
.package
.package-lock
.npmrc

After that, go to your project and run the following command in your terminal

npm i

Elliot

I only found the .cache, but that and deleting the package-lock.json file fixed it. Thank you. I would never in a million years have figured this one out. – Mcintosh

clear .npmrc did the trick for me – Insulation

Be careful blowing away your .cache directory, as it's used by pip and other package managers. – Ghetto

Answer 3

I had the same error with the company registry configured in .npmrc

registry=https:<company-registry-url>

Node version : 19.1.0
NPM version : 8.19.3

Solution:

Execute npm login

$ npm login
npm notice Log in on https:<registry-url>
Username: xxxx
Password:
Email: (this IS public) (xxxx)
Logged in as xxx on https:<registry-url>.

After this .npmrc got updated with

//<registry-url>/:_authToken=xxxxx

Resentful

Worked thanks! I had company npm artifactory registered at Jfrog. – Transferase

Answer 4

Your password in .npmrc must be base64 encoded. Easy to screw up just copy-pasting the password, need to base64 encode that.

Lisp

Answer 5

I have been getting the same error recently on various projects after running npm run dev:

npm ERR! code E401
npm ERR! Incorrect or missing password.

What fixed it for me was to delete my package-lock.json file (and any yarn.lock files, which might create conflicts with npm) and the node_modules directory. Then I updated my npm packages with npm update. (CAUTION: Before updating any npm packages, you should probably create a new Git branch and run npm update in that new branch. If you run into bigger problems after the updates, then you can revert back to your previous branch.)

After my packages were updated, then running my npm startup script (e.g. npm run dev) worked again without errors.

NOTE: You can run npm outdated to see which of your npm packages could use an update.

Gunfire

Answer 6

If you configured your .npmrc, maybe your credentials are expired or need new credentials. Try this vsts-npm-auth -config .npmrc. If it gives you this error [The input is not a valid Base-64 string as it contains a non-base 64 character, more than two padding characters, or an illegal character among the padding characters.] try with vsts-npm-auth -config .npmrc -force. That should generate new credentials.

Priorate

Answer 7

Look at the specified log file (e. g. /Users/xyz/.npm/_logs/2021-04-15T18_55_07_993Z-debug.log). It could be that a 3rd party or corporate package to be installed requires authentication.

For example, if you try to install the pro icons of FontAwesome and the authentication (token) is missing, this error occurs.

Dearman

This actually helped me and turned out to be my exact problem (hadn't copied the .npmrc file over) so thank you! – Hatshepsut

Answer 8

In my case, I encountered this error while dealing with the Azure Artifacts feed. By generating a new Personal Access Token (PAT) in Azure DevOps and using its Base64 encoded value in my .npmrc file, I was able to resolve this issue.

Invaluable

Answer 9

in my case, I just tried npm login, entered the credentials, logged in ( in my case it was GUI, in your case it might be in terminal ) and then ran the desired npm command again ( it was npm run test in my case ) and it worked!

Libby

Answer 10

Had the same issue with Node 16.x.x. I have done everything from this topic and those topics which were mentioned here and nothing helped me!

The only thing that helped me to login was that I have deleted Node 16.x.x and installed Node 14.8.1 from here - https://nodejs.org/en/download/releases/

Malodorous

Answer 11

It can be happening because of a bug on npm. This was happening to me with npm v7. Switched to v6 and it worked.

More context: https://github.com/npm/cli/pull/2153

Biotechnology

Answer 12

What worked for me is:

npm login    
npm notice Log in on https://www.SOME_URL.com
Username: xyz
Password:
Email: (this IS public) (USER_EMAIL_ID.com)
Logged in as xyz on https://www.SOME_URL.com

and then npm login. All dependencies installed

Typeset

Answer 13

I had both .npmrc and token in base64 and the correct configuration of .npmrc itself, but I still got this error It helped me to change the version of node.js, when I switched from v20 to v17 the error disappeared. I don't understand how this is related, but maybe it will help someone.

Aves

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review – Quickwitted

Answer 14

in my case there was an outdated token in my .npmrc file so i pasted the new one and ran npm i and it worked

in terminal, i ran code ~/.npmrc and pasted the new .npmrc then npm i

Theorist

Answer 15

you will have to exectute below command to fix npm ERR! code E401 in Mac system

rm -rf /Users/username/.npmrc 
npm login
npm i

Partee

Answer 16

Had the same issue when the company registry configured in .npmrc file as below.

registry=https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/<ORGANIZATION_NAME>/<PROJECT_NAME>/_packaging/<FEED_NAME>/npm/registry/

always-auth=true

In the command prompt, I have given my .npmrc file location and ran the command "vsts-npm-auth -config .npmrc -F" to get an Azure Artifacts token added to our user-level .npmrc file. This created new credentials for me and fixed my issue.

Zumstein

Answer 17

I've tried everything that was suggested, but nothing worked. For me only worked one commend:

npm config set registry "https://registry.npmjs.com/"

Then command

npm install latest-version

Works with no error and all modules are installed.

Dipietro

Answer 18

at least in my case it worked removing .npmrc from C:\Users[loginwindows] then run the command on admin powershell npm i -g vsts-npm-auth then run the command on admin powershell vsts-npm-auth -F -C .npmrc and that should have worked to solved the "ERR! code E401", now you could proceed to run npm run init on your project

Deodorize

Answer 19

Reinstall the lastest node.js. That fixed my issue.

Campanile