How do I update Node.js?

O

30

742

I did the following to update my npm:

npm update npm -g

But I have no idea how to update Node.js. Any suggestions? (I'm using Node.js 0.4.1 and want to update to Node.js 0.6.1.)

Overhang answered 19/11, 2011 at 2:37 Comment(5)

Possible duplicate: How can I update NodeJS and Npm for the next versions? . (should at the very least be linked) – Robbie 5/12, 2012 at 0:39

Possible duplicate of Upgrading Node.js to latest version – Equipotential 7/1, 2016 at 22:9

I don't really get why most of the answers suggest to install third party tools :/ – Groos 24/7, 2016 at 21:35

Things have gotten quite a bit easier since this question was first answered (if you don't need version management) : All platforms (Windows, Mac & Linux) – Ornas 4/11, 2017 at 7:8

Possible duplicate of How can I update Node.js and npm to the next versions? – Morril 9/11, 2017 at 6:35

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721

Use Node Version Manager (NVM)

It's a Bash script that lets you download and manage different versions of node. Full source code is here.

There is a separate project for nvm for Windows: github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows

Below are the full steps to use NVM for multiple version of node on windows

download nvm-setup.zip extract and install it.
execute command nvm list available from cmd or gitbash or powershell, this will list all available version of node
use command nvm install version e.g. nvm install 12.14.0 to install on the machine
last once installed use nvm use version to use newer version e.g. nvm use 12.14.0

Remembrance answered 19/11, 2011 at 2:39 Comment(13)

FYI, the command to run once having install NVM is 'nvm install <version>'. For example 'nvm install v0.8.7' – Galenism 18/8, 2012 at 13:55

FYI: I even used nvm on an (arm) android tablet with debian. It downloads src & builds it. I upgraded v0.6.x to v0.8.x without issue. – Polypetalous 8/1, 2013 at 12:44

You don't need this. Node is not Ruby. – Cavorilievo 3/5, 2015 at 13:0

I really liked NVM before iojs and npm agreed to merge back together. But now it's just a hassle for little reward. Anything that thinks it knows where your node path will be automatically will need to be configured manually. Not a huge deal but kind of annoying. – Gynandrous 25/7, 2015 at 2:36

@SimonEast There is an nvm for windows: github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows – Mesopause 18/11, 2015 at 10:45

@PhilHannent as per NVM github page, they don't support NVM on windows, so one can say that "there is no official NVM for windows" – Atharvaveda 21/11, 2016 at 0:7

For windows just download latest version and install it. It will be automatically updated to new version you downloaded. – Severson 25/3, 2019 at 4:54

michael-kuehnel.de/node.js/2015/09/08/… this is a good documentation for nvm use – Chancey 25/11, 2019 at 20:40

If you're using VS Code, don't forget to restart it after installing NVM – Stoush 15/3, 2020 at 22:52

you just want to install latest version of NodeJs from official site and it will automatically be updated. WHY BOTHER WITH NVM? – Ocreate 24/2, 2021 at 9:9

Thank you for this answer, it led me down the right road. A couple of notes, it works better if you uninstall node if you have installed it previously, just know you will have to reinstall Angular CLI if you had it installed. – Protraction 20/4, 2021 at 18:50

now the list command is nvm ls-remote – Hereabouts 31/5, 2022 at 17:2

If you want latest version just run nvm install node."node" is an alias for the latest version – Maemaeander 10/12, 2023 at 15:50

H

1763

To upgrade Node you may first want to see which version of Node.js you are currently using:

node --version

Find out which versions of Node.js you may have installed and which one of those you're currently using:

nvm ls

List all versions of Node.js available for installation:

nvm ls-remote

Apparently for Windows the command would be rather like this:

nvm ls available

Assuming you would pick Node.js v8.1.0 for installation you'd type the following to install that version:

nvm install 8.1.0

You are then free to choose between installed versions of Node.js. So if you would need to use an older version like v4.2.0 you would set it as the active version like this:

nvm use 4.2

That should be all.

In 2013 I used the following instructions to upgrade from Node.js version 0.10.6 to 0.10.21 on a Mac, for more recent instructions see above.

Update from 2017: Please mind, Mr. Walsh himself recommended to update Node.js just using nvm instead.

Clear NPM's cache:
```
 sudo npm cache clean -f
```
Install a little helper called 'n'
```
 sudo npm install -g n
```
Install latest stable Node.js version
```
 sudo n stable
```

Alternatively pick a specific version and install like this:

sudo n 0.8.20

For production environments you might want to pay attention to version numbering and be picky about odd/even numbers.

Credits

General procedure: D.Walsh
Stable/unstable versions: P.Teixeira

Hedgehop answered 25/10, 2013 at 8:6 Comment(18)

You should credit your source - your answer is quoted from David Walsh's blog: davidwalsh.name/upgrade-nodejs. It should also be noted that this method has major caveats, some rather destructive, as seen in the comments on the original blog post. – Agile 25/6, 2015 at 17:15

Unfortunately that din't worked for me.. was doing exact as described on a Linux machine - 'node -v' before and after showed 'v0.10.5' – Offish 20/7, 2015 at 9:47

One more step. Close and re-open terminal or if using ssh, exit and log back in to see new node-v – Hubbell 26/7, 2015 at 3:30

Doesn't appear to work on raspberry pi B+ most likely the utility does not support the ARM version – Chromatin 29/8, 2015 at 17:25

did not success when node installed at a customized path – Cleanse 20/10, 2015 at 2:51

clearing cache may not be necessary. @ShawnErquhart I found theholmesoffice.com/… which seems an older article - also the answer above doesn't appear to be a straight copy unless David Walsh's blog was updated and I missed it. – Collin 9/2, 2016 at 12:48

why sudo everything? – Gymnasiarch 19/4, 2016 at 14:21

@Rob Imig : Globally installed scripts usually go to places like /usr/local/bin that require special permissions for installation. Further information: github.com/npm/npm/issues/3139 A possible fix/workaround (if you really want to avoid using sudo): https://mcmap.net/q/46964/-npm-command-sudo-or-not – Hedgehop 20/4, 2016 at 7:58

This doesn't work for me on Linux. I get sudo: n: command not found for the third step. – Tellurium 20/10, 2016 at 21:28

I already downvoted this before because it's not cross platform. However, aditionally, this also DOES NOT install latest nodejs. It installed v4 while v6.10.0 is the latest available for download. – Rikki 17/3, 2017 at 13:29

Seems to work for me but just followed the link to David Walsh's Blog above and he explicitly says not to use it - be warned! – Jovia 28/6, 2017 at 18:16

Thanks brianjlennon for the hint. I updated my answer from 2013 accordingly. Including credits/links. I hope that's okay. – Hedgehop 30/6, 2017 at 19:14

you should mention that your answer is NOT cross-platform or change it accordingly. Specifically, it is NOT working for WIndows (7, for example), that was several times mentioned other users. Whtn you change it, i will take off my downvote, and may be upvote, if i like it. – Rector 19/3, 2018 at 20:12

I know this is old but none of the other suggestions worked for me. Turned out, just clearing npm's cache worked – Chimene 16/1, 2019 at 20:10

This is a good solution if you are using a Linux distribution with deprecated packages like CentOS... Otherwise using apt upgrade to update Node.js in Debian / Ubuntu should be fine. – Erect 29/7, 2019 at 11:50

You can also update to the current LTS or latest release by using nvm install --lts or nvm install --latest-npm. For those not wanting to type the version number every time. – Havana 31/5, 2020 at 23:5

In order to install nvm on Windows (Win10 here), you need a POSIX compliant shell like "BashOnWindows". I highly recommend just downloading the Node installer and running it again. This will update Node and npm. – Fruitage 17/6, 2022 at 0:21

worked like a charm on orangepi5 running armbian, had to do only one more trick because it didnt worked properly at the begin using with this answer: https://mcmap.net/q/46965/-npm-install-cannot-find-module-39-semver-39 – Euplastic 30/5, 2023 at 20:24

R

721

Use Node Version Manager (NVM)

It's a Bash script that lets you download and manage different versions of node. Full source code is here.

There is a separate project for nvm for Windows: github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows

Below are the full steps to use NVM for multiple version of node on windows

download nvm-setup.zip extract and install it.
execute command nvm list available from cmd or gitbash or powershell, this will list all available version of node
use command nvm install version e.g. nvm install 12.14.0 to install on the machine
last once installed use nvm use version to use newer version e.g. nvm use 12.14.0

Remembrance answered 19/11, 2011 at 2:39 Comment(13)

FYI, the command to run once having install NVM is 'nvm install <version>'. For example 'nvm install v0.8.7' – Galenism 18/8, 2012 at 13:55

FYI: I even used nvm on an (arm) android tablet with debian. It downloads src & builds it. I upgraded v0.6.x to v0.8.x without issue. – Polypetalous 8/1, 2013 at 12:44

You don't need this. Node is not Ruby. – Cavorilievo 3/5, 2015 at 13:0

I really liked NVM before iojs and npm agreed to merge back together. But now it's just a hassle for little reward. Anything that thinks it knows where your node path will be automatically will need to be configured manually. Not a huge deal but kind of annoying. – Gynandrous 25/7, 2015 at 2:36

@SimonEast There is an nvm for windows: github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows – Mesopause 18/11, 2015 at 10:45

@PhilHannent as per NVM github page, they don't support NVM on windows, so one can say that "there is no official NVM for windows" – Atharvaveda 21/11, 2016 at 0:7

For windows just download latest version and install it. It will be automatically updated to new version you downloaded. – Severson 25/3, 2019 at 4:54

michael-kuehnel.de/node.js/2015/09/08/… this is a good documentation for nvm use – Chancey 25/11, 2019 at 20:40

If you're using VS Code, don't forget to restart it after installing NVM – Stoush 15/3, 2020 at 22:52

you just want to install latest version of NodeJs from official site and it will automatically be updated. WHY BOTHER WITH NVM? – Ocreate 24/2, 2021 at 9:9

Thank you for this answer, it led me down the right road. A couple of notes, it works better if you uninstall node if you have installed it previously, just know you will have to reinstall Angular CLI if you had it installed. – Protraction 20/4, 2021 at 18:50

now the list command is nvm ls-remote – Hereabouts 31/5, 2022 at 17:2

If you want latest version just run nvm install node."node" is an alias for the latest version – Maemaeander 10/12, 2023 at 15:50

R

665

Any OS (including Windows, Mac & Linux)

Updated October 2022

Just go to the official Node.js site (nodejs.org), download and execute the installer program.

It will take care of everything and with a few clicks of 'Next' you'll get the latest Node.js version running on your machine. Since 2020 it's the recommended way to update NodeJS. It's the easiest and least frustrating solution.

Pro tips

NodeJS installation includes NPM (Node package manager).
To check your NPM version use npm version or node --version.
If you prefer CLI, to update NPM use npm install -g npm and then npm install -g node.
- For more details, see the docs for install command.
Keep an eye on NodeJS blog - Vulnerabilities so you don't miss important security releases. Keep your NodeJS up-to-date.
Operating systems supported by Node.js:
- Windows, Linux, MacOS, IBM AIX.
- For Docker users, here's the official Node.js image.
- For more information on installing Node.js on a variety of less-common operating systems, see this page (there's even Node for Android!).
Troubleshooting for Windows:

If anyone gets file error 2502/2503 like myself during install, run the .msi via Administrator command prompt with command msiexec /package [node msi]

^{If my answer is helpful, don't forget to upvote it}
^{(here is the original answer by Anmol Saraf, upvote it too)}

Rinna answered 24/9, 2015 at 8:36 Comment(16)

So simple and obvious.. I was looking for a shortcut, but this way seems the simplest. node --version to check that it worked.. i had to google that too -- don't check my node version very often. – Ingenerate 30/6, 2016 at 1:37

For those wondering if node modules will survive after running the newer version msi - the answer is yes! It worked for me too! – Applecart 5/10, 2016 at 15:43

This didnt work for me. I have an ancient install of 0.10.26. I have been trying to install 6.10.0 LTS, but it seems impossible I can download and install 6.10.0 as many times as I want, the windows 10 machine can only see 0.10.26. In "add remove programs" I only see 6.10.0. – Codicodices 8/3, 2017 at 21:45

Why exactly would you hyperlink operating systems' wiki pages? – Presurmise 25/1, 2018 at 8:2

I logged to upvote this and say that it should be the accepted answer. Anyway would be nice to have a node -u with confirmation or negation. I was searching through node --help realizing very quickly that it doesn't exist. I was surprised. But anway. Download + Execute is not such a big deal. – Bignoniaceous 27/4, 2018 at 21:7

I prefer the CLI :D and I am a windows user. npm install -g npm stable then npm install -g node – Chockablock 2/6, 2018 at 17:30

I did do this before I found this answer since it is not on the top, which it should. – Cerumen 6/8, 2018 at 15:29

As usual in windows a double click is all you need to take care of the update. Can confirm having upgraded multiple times successfully simply by downloading the latest version and installing it. – Breskin 25/10, 2018 at 12:48

As of Aug 2020 on a Mac, downloading from the node.js website seems to be the best method because "it just works". There's too many different ways to do it by CLI (just look at these answers), each those seem to have subtle conditions or unspoken assumptions, too many gotchas, and too many changes over the years. I think if you have to ask how to do this, the only answer is to download/install from node.js. Anything else is asking for confusion. – Idette 2/8, 2020 at 13:27

If anyone gets file error 2502/2503 like myself during install, run the .msi via Administrator command prompt with command msiexec /package [node msi]. – Middelburg 6/1, 2021 at 16:53

I couldn't get the installer to work on Windows 10, installing the latest LTS version. It would always error out in PowerShell when installing the additional requirements. – Dishcloth 26/5, 2021 at 11:9

@Dishcloth did you try with elevated permissions (run PowerShell as Administrator)? – Rinna 26/5, 2021 at 12:12

To check your NPM version use npm version or node --version. If you prefer CLI, to update NPM use npm install -g npm and then npm install -g node. work perfectly – Melena 4/3, 2022 at 11:52

Worth noting that in some cases this method will require a full system reboot to the latest version fully recognized and up and running. Particularly Windows 11 seems prone to this in for one reason or another recent testing. – Sita 18/6, 2022 at 17:14

This is simple and quick solution, this still works on node 17 and up, thank you naXa – Closemouthed 26/11, 2022 at 11:28

This is the Obvious one and the best solution :) – Radish 26/10, 2023 at 7:5

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466

If you have Homebrew installed (only for macOS):

$ brew upgrade node

Seleneselenious answered 13/9, 2012 at 19:39 Comment(8)

Agreed, I just run "brew upgrade" every few days and I'm kept up to date with the latest changes for all of my packages – Tlingit 8/4, 2013 at 2:8

This is a pain because it means having to upgrade xcode which means having to upgrade osx... – Essentiality 25/12, 2013 at 9:15

Mine says node not installed. Note: I didn't install node with homebrew. Is there something else I should do? – Outsell 10/1, 2016 at 19:30

How to install specific version of node using brew ? – Patchy 25/4, 2016 at 18:45

Never mind, found it at apple.stackexchange.com/questions/171530/… – Patchy 25/4, 2016 at 18:49

I wrote this super early in my career, and since then have had a chance to try a bunch of different techniques. I highly recommend installing n and using that if you can, à la another answer on this thread: https://mcmap.net/q/45702/-how-do-i-update-node-js – Seleneselenious 18/4, 2017 at 17:46

brew did some upgrade but still see the old node -v in the command line – Oogonium 24/8, 2018 at 20:4

while using npx create-react-app . i had node version incompatibility and did upgrade to latest version of node with brew upgrade node. Successfully upgraded to v15.0.1 however i did also faced error with yarn saying No such file or directory -/usr/local/Cellar/yarn/1.22.4 – Blacking 23/10, 2020 at 23:31

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403

2024: Just go to nodejs.org and use the latest installer.

That's it folks. It used to be more complex and people used different kinds of packages and strategies to manage it. But things have changed for the better.

Works for all platforms (Windows, Mac & Linux).

Ornas answered 8/10, 2015 at 8:14 Comment(8)

After Setup re-installation gulp didn't work. Then I called npm rebuild and it was fine again. – Radford 27/2, 2017 at 14:1

This didnt work for me. I have an ancient install of 0.10.26. I have been trying to install 6.10.0 LTS, but it seems impossible I can download and install 6.10.0 as many times as I want, the windows 10 machine can only see 0.10.26. In "add remove programs" I only see 6.10.0. I cant find how to remove or update this old version, or how to install the new version over it. Any ideas? – Codicodices 8/3, 2017 at 21:47

For the last comment, you can use "where" command to find the executable. For example: "where node.exe". In my system (win10) this gives "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" – Osteoid 25/5, 2017 at 19:33

i concur, just go to nodejs.org and download and it will update everything automatically – Respective 19/1, 2018 at 18:23

I tried the other solutions to this question and this one was the easiest and least frustrating. – Jeffiejeffrey 4/8, 2018 at 20:23

I had to run this after I had downloaded the new node.js from the website: npm install -g node – Overlying 8/3, 2019 at 8:41

FYI I could not get this (NPM install) working on Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS. It would fail every time even when I chown the directories (as explained elsewhere). I also completely uninstalled my node installation, but it still wouldn't work. Finally, the only thing that I could do to get it to work was to install it via Snap. Otherwise I could only get v8.10. Snap installed v12.18.3 – Onward 8/9, 2020 at 20:16

Just in case, this doesn't work for Windows 7. – Twylatwyman 6/4, 2021 at 13:43

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209

First update npm,

npm install -g npm stable

Then update node,

npm install -g node or npm install -g n

check after version installation,

node --version or node -v

Lixiviate answered 20/12, 2017 at 15:34 Comment(6)

Be aware it worked for me under Windows 2016 but node was installed into the directory of the current user: C:\Users\my-current-user\AppData\Roaming\npm\...; it did not update an older installation under C:\Program Files\nodejs nor the path variable. i ended up reinstalling with the msi-installer. that fixed it for me. – Tonne 13/8, 2018 at 22:45

This is a terrible idea. Why? Later versions of npm require later version of node. Therefore you can update npm and then it stops working as you need a newer version of node. Thus you are back to the start and now your npm is broken. – Razorbill 29/9, 2018 at 2:4

its installs 6.8.0 for npm ,but i wants 6.11 for NodeJS, is it fine to use npm install -g npm – Electrolier 15/2, 2019 at 12:34

After this we need to change symlink ln -sf /usr/local/n/versions/node/10.17.0/bin/node /usr/bin/node – Elevator 15/11, 2019 at 17:10

As with @Tonne the above method wrongly installed node into C:\Users\my-current-user\AppData\Roaming\npm. To fix: I deleted that directory (npm) and removed it from my Windows Path. Then the command node -v would work to pickup the right node version installed from nodejs.org/en/download. – Linlithgow 11/12, 2021 at 15:15

This gave me the following warning

Node.js version v19.6.1 detected. Odd numbered Node.js versions will not enter LTS status and should not be used for production. For more information, please see https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/.

And npm install just freezes – Bedell 8/3, 2023 at 18:24

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153

On Windows you can use Chocolatey to install and update Node.js (and lots of other packages).

Install Node

cinst nodejs.install

Update Node

cup nodejs.install

Note: You will need to install Chocolatey before you can use cinst and cup.

Markley answered 11/11, 2013 at 20:35 Comment(6)

I was getting: The schema version of 'Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc' is incompatible with version 2.1.31022.9038 of NuGet. Please upgrade NuGet to the latest version from go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=213942. When I tried to run the cup nodejs.install. Found that if I run nuget.exe update -self on the nuget.exe in the C:\Chocolatey\chocolateyinstall directory. Hope this helps anyone out there. – Liveried 25/9, 2014 at 18:45

cinst nodejs.install Chocolatey (v0.9.8.27) is installing 'nodejs.install' and dependencies. By installing you accept the license for 'nodejs.install' and each dependency you are installing. Unable to find package 'nodejs.install'. Command 'install' failed (sometimes this indicates a partial failure). Additional info/packages: nodejs.install – Lava 18/10, 2014 at 0:19

I feel a question about how you update Chocolatey coming on. – Metameric 27/9, 2016 at 18:55

What's the difference between nodejs.install and nodejs? – Normally 16/11, 2017 at 16:49

@OhadSchneider if you use .install then you will be able to uninstall node from "Apps & features" in windows – Markley 16/11, 2017 at 21:31

On windows I recommend using winget microsoft winget page. For me it's the smoothest experience I had with managing apps on windows. To upgrade node type winget upgrade Node.js – Lianeliang 12/2, 2023 at 16:42

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110

To upgrade node to the latest version or to a specific version you can do the following:

sudo npm install n -g
sudo n 0.10.18   // This will give you the specific version

For the latest stable version:

sudo n stable

For the latest LTS version(Tested on Mac)

sudo n lts

Whittling answered 22/9, 2013 at 1:17 Comment(4)

Could you not do this in 2011? Why did everybody else answer with external solutions? +1 for using NPM and deserves answer IMO. – Didymium 19/10, 2013 at 23:55

Worked for me on an AWS EC2 Linux instance – Glarus 6/10, 2015 at 23:51

If you are trying to install "n" on windows, do not waste your time. At this time, still, "n" does not run on windows. For windows you either have to update from the installers on nodejs.org, use npm `npm install -g node``, use chocolaty, or install nvm (a third party version manager for node). – Lasalle 22/4, 2020 at 15:18

@ErikReppen n is a node package. This counts as "external" for me. – Promenade 9/12, 2020 at 15:34

N

93

To control your version of Node.js, you can try n. I found it very straightforward and useful.

n is a Node.js binary management, no subshells, no profile setup, no convoluted API, just simple.

npm install -g n

n 0.6.19 will install Node.js v0.6.19.

Newsreel answered 21/6, 2012 at 16:24 Comment(11)

Also you can switch between different nodejs versions, just type "n" and select version you need – Detailed 12/3, 2013 at 12:13

I couldn't get it to work on Windows either. The author should publish that fact. It was a dead end for me. – Paver 26/6, 2013 at 17:25

It works for me in Windows within the git bash shell. So if you use git fire up git bash and try it there! – Amling 2/2, 2014 at 16:33

Doesn't work on Win7 for me - even in git bash.

npm ERR! notsup Not compatible with your operating system or architecture: [email protected] npm ERR! notsup Valid OS:    !win32 npm ERR! notsup Valid Arch:  any npm ERR! notsup Actual OS:   win32

– Talesman 19/9, 2014 at 0:36

@backdesk on windows the upgrade process is almost the same as this install process. Full instructions here: exponential.io/blog/install-or-upgrade-nodejs-on-windows – Mundford 1/10, 2015 at 8:57

Git bash does not work for me on Windows 7, 64 bit OS. – Unofficial 17/10, 2015 at 23:9

Git bash does not work for me on Windows 10, 64 bit OS – Fern 14/1, 2016 at 1:14

Ugh! Running this on an ARM processor, it says it's fetching a file that has the text "x86" in the title... and then promptly dies saying it cannot execute binary file (well duh!) – Offish 23/2, 2017 at 22:16

This does not work on linux either, it downloads the correct version but doesn't install it: pastebin.com/u708hRp9 – Rikki 17/3, 2017 at 13:32

This is the best way to go if n will run on your machine. – Seleneselenious 18/4, 2017 at 17:47

This doesn't work on my current version on node 17, but thanks anyway – Closemouthed 26/11, 2022 at 11:24

M

63

Short answer:

Go to this page: Download | Node.js

Download the installer for your platform, then install it.

Mosra answered 26/10, 2015 at 15:19 Comment(7)

can you run it on ubuntu/LINUX ?? – Aneurysm 28/12, 2015 at 10:37

Not only for Windows, also on Mac this is the quickest – Standup 30/1, 2016 at 16:34

The OP have not mentioned anything about the platform, so the MSI answer is valid. – Mehetabel 31/3, 2017 at 20:8

I revised the answer to say "Download the installer for your platform" instead. You're welcome :) @AshishRatan there are Linux binaries on the same page. – Mcneese 7/1, 2018 at 9:58

@Mcneese nvm is the best solution – Aneurysm 8/1, 2018 at 11:0

Now working for me on Ubuntu – Nystrom 3/1, 2022 at 11:43

@Nystrom Which command did you run to install it on Ubuntu? – Fleurdelis 26/1, 2022 at 15:58

S

56

I had the same problem, when I saw that my Node.js installation is outdated.

These few lines will handle everything (for Ubuntu):

sudo npm cache clean -f
sudo npm install -g n
sudo n stable

After this node -v will return you the latest available version.

Stevenage answered 10/6, 2014 at 7:2 Comment(5)

Worked flawlessly on Mac OS X Yosemite too. – Warrick 21/3, 2015 at 8:56

after doing this node -v still returned an older version number. But using whereis node I could actually detect that a recent version was installed in /usr/local/bin/node – Whereof 6/4, 2019 at 22:14

Worked without any hassle on Ubuntu 18.04. – Mejia 14/1, 2020 at 17:11

@bvbd the version of node that is used (by default) in this case likely depends on the order of directories in your PATH – Studdingsail 19/2, 2020 at 15:42

@Whereof If "node -v" shows the old version you should start a new terminal – Unseal 9/4 at 8:46

B

23

On CentOS 7 you can do the following:

sudo npm cache clean -f
sudo npm install -g n
sudo n stable
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/n/versions/node/5.4.1/bin/node /usr/bin/node
node –v (Should show updated version now)
npm rebuild node-sass (Optional: if you use this)

Note: The symlink is required to link your node binary with the latest Node.js installed binary file.

Bettinabettine answered 18/1, 2016 at 13:29 Comment(6)

worked for me, important thing that I missed before was a symbolic linking. – Bibliophage 20/1, 2016 at 17:36

Note that EPEL7 as of now has the latest long term stable version, so these steps are only recommended if you want something newer. – Torrietorrin 13/11, 2016 at 18:42

node –v module.js:473 throw err; ^ Error: Cannot find module '/root/test/–v' – Experimentation 29/9, 2017 at 3:41

n latest /usr/bin/n: line 263: which: command not found /usr/bin/n: line 263: which: command not found – Experimentation 29/9, 2017 at 3:43

@AlexeySh. It worked for me and apparently at least 16 other people. – Bettinabettine 27/3, 2018 at 1:32

For windows:-The NPM team officially recommends this method of updating Node. (source below) matthewhorne.me/how-to-update-npm-on-windows-10 1.First, open PowerShell as administrator and run the following command. >Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser -Force >npm install -g npm-windows-upgrade >npm-windows-upgrade – Epigene 29/8, 2019 at 17:45

N

14

For OS X, I had v5.4.1 and needed the latest version 6 so I went to the Node.js homepage and clicked on one of the links below:

I then followed the installer and then I magically had the latest version of Node.js and npm.

Norther answered 2/7, 2016 at 9:2 Comment(0)

R

9

You may use nvm.

Check what is the latest version at http://nodejs.org/ (e.g. v0.10.26)
Run nvm install v0.10.26

Done.

You can choose which version to run:

nvm ls list the available versions and tells you which version you are using now.

nvm use VERSION change the current node to the requested version.

nvm alias default VERSION set the default version. The next time you source nvm.sh, this will be the version loaded (note that it doesn't change the version in use right now, run nvm use for that).

Recipient answered 4/3, 2014 at 22:48 Comment(4)

nvm is third party library :P – Blouson 8/3, 2014 at 10:53

This is embarrassing. I used it since day one and didn't notice. I'll edit the answer. – Recipient 9/3, 2014 at 18:26

nvm alias default VERSION was my savior! – Pisistratus 8/1, 2020 at 22:55

I would also add nvm copy-packages <previous version> to update all global dependencies at the end – Glyceride 7/5, 2020 at 19:8

J

9

For macOS in 2018+ (as ALL of the solutions above are failing for me):

Simply go to the official nodejs site, download the official nodejs package and install it by double clicking. It's the most simple, safe and always-working thing you can do.

Jeweller answered 19/7, 2018 at 11:26 Comment(0)

T

8

Some Linux distributions such as Arch Linux have Node.js in their package repositories. On such systems it is better to use a standard package update procedure, such as pacman -Suy or analogous apt-get or yum commands.

As of now (Nov 2016) EPEL7 offers a pretty recent version of Node.js (6.9.1 which is an up-to-date LTS version offered on the Node.js home page). So on CentOS 7 and derivatives you can just add EPEL repository by yum install epel-release and yum install nodejs.

CentOS 6/EPEL6 has 0.10.x which isn't supported upstream since Oct 2016.

Torrietorrin answered 20/11, 2011 at 10:28 Comment(0)

M

7

Today I ran on a Windows Git Bash:

$ npm i node -g

and got the following output:

> [email protected] preinstall C:\Users\X\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\node
> node installArchSpecificPackage

+ [email protected]
added 1 package and audited 1 package in 23.368s
found 0 vulnerabilities

C:\Users\X\AppData\Roaming\npm\node -> C:\Users\X\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\node\bin\node
+ [email protected]
added 2 packages from 1 contributor in 26.089s

Read more about it at https://www.npmjs.com/package/node.

Motion answered 13/7, 2018 at 1:16 Comment(1)

Same here. Out of nowhere my nodejs is deinstalled – Grizzle 1/5, 2022 at 15:26

R

6

The easy way to update node and npm :

npm install -g npm@latest

download the latest version of node js and update /install

Rabideau answered 25/11, 2017 at 16:17 Comment(1)

you can drop the @latest part, it's the default behavior for npm. – Metabolize 26/6, 2018 at 12:21

A

5

$ npm install -g npm stable

worked for me to update npm

Absinthism answered 25/8, 2016 at 6:14 Comment(1)

This is to update npm and the question is for updating nodejs – Crin 13/12, 2016 at 9:23

Q

5

Install nvm(cURL)

$ curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.31.1/install.sh | bash

OR with Wget

$ wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.1/install.sh | bash
Display list of installed versions

$ nvm ls
Display list of versions that are available to install

$ nvm ls-remote
Install your preferred version

$ nvm install v7.5.0
Set this version as the default

$ nvm alias default v7.5.0

Quartana answered 21/2, 2017 at 19:55 Comment(1)

NB: This will copy nvm.sh to your home directory. You should then run source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh to set up the nvm command. Now you you can run nvm ls, etc as listed above. This is only necessary if you do not want to have to re-open your terminal, e.g. if you are SSH'd into a remote server. – Turncoat 10/8, 2020 at 8:6

L

4

For Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install -y curl
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_0.12 | sudo bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Source: https://askubuntu.com/questions/426750/how-can-i-update-my-nodejs-to-the-latest-version

Laxation answered 2/7, 2015 at 16:34 Comment(3)

curl {anything} | sudo bash - can't possibly be a good security practice... Even leaving sophisticated attacks aside, what if you misspell the domain name? – Upward 25/6, 2019 at 20:37

Your comment adds no value to the answer. You can also misspell your bank domain and leak your bank details in a fake bank website. – Laxation 12/7, 2019 at 7:29

Do not do npm i n -g afterwards to update node, because then you get two nodes on your system. Stay with this update process of apt. Alternatively you can try snap which also has a built-in update function – Lytle 19/3, 2021 at 8:22

K

4

You may use Chocolatey on Windows. It's very easy to use and useful for keeping you updated with other applications too.

Also, you can just simply download the latest version from https://nodejs.org and install it.

Kenley answered 9/3, 2016 at 13:58 Comment(1)

He asked "I did the following to update my npm: "npm update npm -g" But I have no idea how to update node.js. Any suggestions? (I'm using node.js 0.4.1 and want to update to node.js 0.6.1)." and I suggested him to use Chocolatey to simplify the process but I also suggested him to download the latest version from the site and install it, wich is more than enough to update the nodeJS as he asked. So, I think my answer does provide a satisfactory solution for his question. – Kenley 25/3, 2016 at 22:47

A

4

According to Nodejs Official Page, you can install&update new node version on windows using Chocolatey or Scoop

Using(Chocolatey):

cinst nodejs
# or for full install with npm
cinst nodejs.install

Using(Scoop):

scoop install nodejs

Also you can download the Windows Installer directly from the nodejs.org web site

Alpenhorn answered 11/11, 2017 at 5:42 Comment(0)

E

3

As some of you already said, the easiest way is to update Node.js through the Node.js package manager, npm. If you are a Linux (Debian-based in my case) user I would suggest to add these lines to your .bashrc file (in home directory):

function nodejsupdate() {
    ARGC=$#
    version=latest
    if [ $ARGC != 0 ]; then
        version=$1
    fi
    sudo npm cache clean -f
    sudo npm install -g n
    sudo n $version
}

Restart your terminal after saving and write nodejsupdate to update to the latest version of Node.js or nodejsupdate v6.0.0 (for example) to update to a specific version of Node.js.

BONUS: Update npm (add these lines to .bashrc)

function npmupdate() {
    sudo npm i npm -g
}

After restarting the terminal write npmupdate to update your node package manager to the latest version.

Now you can update Node.js and npm through your terminal (easier).

Errant answered 4/5, 2016 at 17:33 Comment(0)

R

3

In windows download the node executable file from the website and install it. this worked for me.

Reinforce answered 20/12, 2017 at 14:18 Comment(0)

T

1

All you need to version update of Node.js:

$ brew install node

If you don't have Homebrew; please go http://brew.sh/.

Tame answered 16/10, 2016 at 22:36 Comment(3)

Homebrew doesn't work on all platforms that Node.js does. – Wahl 18/10, 2016 at 16:4

Homebrew won't update a version of Node.js installed through some other means either. It will install parallel to it. – Unwelcome 17/12, 2016 at 12:56

brew upgrade node – Ahmad 27/9, 2017 at 2:31

B

0

Just install the new version over the current folder. I upgraded mine from v4.x to v6.10 on Windows.

Badillo answered 4/3, 2017 at 16:25 Comment(0)

M

-3

npm clean cache - you forget to clean ur cache
npm update -g

This works on mine Windows, I hope it will also work for you :D

Minicam answered 27/8, 2015 at 9:14 Comment(2)

npm cache clean (a different order) – Rinna 24/9, 2015 at 7:46

npm update -g command updates all globally installed packages, but not node.js itself. – Rinna 24/9, 2015 at 7:50

O

-5

If you want to update Node.js, just try

npm update

from your Windows cmd prompt.

Else if you want to update any specific package try

npm update <package_name>

Example:

npm update phonegap

Obey answered 24/1, 2014 at 13:54 Comment(3)

That's a great answer for a different question. – Earthquake 28/3, 2014 at 12:56

This does not work for me. Before doing nmp update, node --version says 0.10.26. After doing update, same version. Even though the latest version is 7.7.1 or similar. – Codicodices 8/3, 2017 at 21:50

This didn't work for me either. – Hatbox 1/10, 2023 at 3:45

R

-10

open cmd and type

npm i -g npm

Rawboned answered 20/6, 2018 at 3:58 Comment(0)

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