diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c505614db7c1..d9ae84083856 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2833,6 +2833,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-subscriber",
  "utoipa",
  "uuid",
+ "winreg 0.55.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5395,7 +5396,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "wasm-bindgen",
  "wasm-bindgen-futures",
  "web-sys",
- "winreg",
+ "winreg 0.50.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -8332,6 +8333,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.48.0",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "winreg"
+version = "0.55.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cb5a765337c50e9ec252c2069be9bf91c7df47afb103b642ba3a53bf8101be97"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "winsafe"
 version = "0.0.19"
diff --git a/crates/goose-server/Cargo.toml b/crates/goose-server/Cargo.toml
index eefd68f938fc..cc00f91146c2 100644
--- a/crates/goose-server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/goose-server/Cargo.toml
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ reqwest = { version = "0.12.9", features = ["json", "rustls-tls", "blocking", "m
 tokio-util = "0.7.15"
 uuid = { version = "1.11", features = ["v4"] }
 serde_path_to_error = "0.1.20"
+winreg = { version = "0.55.0", optional = true }
+
+[target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
+winreg = { version = "0.55.0" }
 
 [[bin]]
 name = "goosed"
diff --git a/crates/goose-server/src/routes/extension.rs b/crates/goose-server/src/routes/extension.rs
index 5fec1a3599e7..05e0d1e0488a 100644
--- a/crates/goose-server/src/routes/extension.rs
+++ b/crates/goose-server/src/routes/extension.rs
@@ -32,12 +32,44 @@ async fn add_extension(
 
     // If this is a Stdio extension that uses npx, check for Node.js installation
     #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    use winreg::enums::{HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, KEY_READ};
+    use winreg::RegKey;
     if let ExtensionConfig::Stdio { cmd, .. } = &request.config {
         if cmd.ends_with("npx.cmd") || cmd.ends_with("npx") {
             // Check if Node.js is installed in standard locations
-            let node_exists = std::path::Path::new(r"C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe").exists()
+            let mut node_exists = std::path::Path::new(r"C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe").exists()
                 || std::path::Path::new(r"C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node.exe").exists();
 
+            // Also check Windows registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Node.js InstallPath
+            if !node_exists {
+                // Try 64-bit view first, then 32-bit. Use open_subkey_with_flags to avoid WOW64 redirection issues.
+                let install_path_from_reg: Option<String> = (|| {
+                    let hk_local_machine = RegKey::predef(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE);
+                    // Common keys to try
+                    let keys = vec![
+                        "SOFTWARE\\Node.js",
+                        "SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Node.js",
+                    ];
+                    for k in keys.iter() {
+                        if let Ok(subkey) = hk_local_machine.open_subkey_with_flags(k, KEY_READ) {
+                            if let Ok(val) = subkey.get_value::<String, _>("InstallPath") {
+                                if !val.trim().is_empty() {
+                                    return Some(val);
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                    None
+                })();
+
+                if let Some(path_str) = install_path_from_reg {
+                    let node_path = std::path::Path::new(&path_str).join("node.exe");
+                    if node_path.exists() {
+                        node_exists = true;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
             if !node_exists {
                 // Get the directory containing npx.cmd
                 let cmd_path = std::path::Path::new(&cmd);
@@ -47,7 +79,7 @@ async fn add_extension(
                 let install_script = script_dir.join("install-node.cmd");
 
                 if install_script.exists() {
-                    eprintln!("Installing Node.js...");
+                    eprintln!("Node.js not found on the system, installing Node.js...");
                     let output = std::process::Command::new(&install_script)
                         .arg("https://nodejs.org/dist/v23.10.0/node-v23.10.0-x64.msi")
                         .output()
@@ -72,12 +104,12 @@ async fn add_extension(
                     eprintln!("Node.js installation completed");
                 } else {
                     eprintln!(
-                        "Node.js installer script not found at: {}",
+                        "Node.js not found on the system, and Node.js installer script not found at: {}",
                         install_script.display()
                     );
                     return Ok(Json(ExtensionResponse {
                         error: true,
-                        message: Some("Node.js installer script not found".to_string()),
+                        message: Some("Node.js not found on the system, and Node.js installer script not found".to_string()),
                     }));
                 }
             }