Error: spawn ENOENT when executing a program installed globally via npm (Windows)

[brzpegasus]

When I install an npm module globally, I'm able to execute it in a child process with the exec method, but not with spawn.

So, this will print the version of Express (although sometimes it won't print anything because of this other issue)...

var exec = require('child_process').exec;
exec('express --version', function(err, stdout, stderr) {
  console.log(stdout);
});

But if I use spawn instead:

var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
spawn('express', ['--version']);

then I get this error:

events.js:72
        throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
              ^
Error: spawn ENOENT
    at errnoException (child_process.js:980:11)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:771:34)

I believe this is only happening on Windows. I've seen this issue reported in other repos, like mocha-phantomjs, but it seems like a Node issue to me. Essentially, spawn is unable to find the command, but exec can. Shouldn't they work consistently?

I'm on Windows 7, using node v0.10.13.

[domenic]

This is caused by #2318.

[brzpegasus]

Ahh, thanks for pointing out the true root cause. Makes more sense now why installing phantomjs.exe and adding that to the path works when you call spawn, but not when it's installed via npm. I didn't realize spawn did not handle .bat or .cmd files.

[tjfontaine]

Maybe we should have a doc update around it, but the brunt of this issue is tracked by another, closing as a duplicate

[ijlalkhanzada]

when i run cordova-splash command this error to come.
events.js:72
throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
^
Error: spawn ENOENT
at errnoException (child_process.js:980:11)
at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:771:34)

[bsed]

Failed to launch external program npm run compile.
spawn npm ENOENT

[ayo123]

Adding C:\Windows\System32\ to my system PATH in Environment variable and restarting my cmd fixed the problem for me.

[flyskywhy]

@brzpegasus @domenic @tjfontaine @ijlalkhanzada @D0f @ayo123 , this issue was resolved in #2318 :

e.g. npm, just replace

spawn('npm', ...

by

spawn(/^win/.test(process.platform) ? 'npm.cmd' : 'npm', ...