This article was first published in NodeSource blog on February 2017.

As with any programming language, platform, or tool that doesn't come bundled with Windows, getting up and running with Node.js takes some initial setup before you can start hacking away. In my experience, though Node.js has a far better installation experience on Windows than virtually any other language, platform, or tool that I've tried to use - just run the installer, and you're good to go.

In this quick tutorial, we'll take a look at how to get Node.js installed on Windows. Once we've completed the entirety of the tutorial, you'll be ready to take the next step with Node.js.

This guide covers installing Node.js on the following versions of Windows: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. These are the versions that are consistently tested and supported by the Node.js build process at the time of writing.

Step 0: The Quick Guide (TL;DR) to Get Node.js Installed on Windows

Here's the abbreviated guide, highlighting the major steps:

1. Open the official page for Node.js downloads and download Node.js for Windows by clicking the "Windows Installer" option

2. Run the downloaded Node.js .msi Installer - including accepting the license, selecting the destination, and authenticating for the install.

   • This requires Administrator privileges, and you may need to authenticate
3. To ensure Node.js has been installed, run node -v in your terminal - you should get something like v6.9.5
4. Update your version of npm with npm install npm --global
5. This requires Administrator privileges, and you may need to authenticate
6. Congratulations - you've now got Node.js installed, and are ready to start building!

Step 1: Download the Node.js .msi Installer

As the first step to installing Node.js on Windows, you'll need to download the installer. You'll be able to grab the installer from the official downloads page for Node.js.

You'll be able to download the Windows Node.js installer by clicking the Windows Installer option at the top of the page - when you click this, you'll get an MSI installer download. Make sure to save it somewhere that you'll be able to find it!

Step 2: Run the Node.js Installer

You've got the Windows Installer - great! Now, you need to install it on your PC. The installer is a pretty typical Wizard interface for installing software on Windows - there are a few steps to it, but you can have it done in under a minute. You can get through it by following the guide below:

• Welcome to the Node.js Setup Wizard

  • Select Next

• End-User License Agreement (EULA)

  • Check I accept the terms in the License Agreement
  • Select Next

• Destination Folder

  • Select Next

• Custom Setup

  • Select Next

• Ready to install Node.js

  • Select Install
  • Note: This step requires Administrator privlidges.
  • If prompted, authenticate as an Administrator

• Installing Node.js

  • Let the installer run to completion

• Completed the Node.js Setup Wizard

  • Click Finish

Step 3: Verify that Node.js was Properly installed

To double check that Node.js was installed fully on your PC, you can test the following command in your Command Prompt (regardless of if you're using cmd.exe, Powershell, or any other command prompt):

$ node -v

If Node.js was installed fully, the command prompt will print something similar to (but probably not exactly) this:

$ node -v // The command we ran - prints out the version of Node.js that's currently installed 
v6.9.5 // The printed version of Node.js that's currently installed - v6.9.5 was the most current LTS release at the time of writing.

Step 4: Update the Local npm Version

As the final step in getting Node.js installed, we'll update your version of npm - the package manager that comes bundled with Node.js.

Node.js always ships with a specific version of npm - Node.js doesn't (and shouldn't!) automatically update npm. The release cycle of the npm CLI client isn't in sync with the Node.js releases. Because of this, there's almost certainly going to be a newer version of npm available than the one that is installed as a default in any given Node release.

To quickly and easily update npm, you can run the following command:

npm install npm --global // Update the `npm` CLI client

Step 5: Go build applications, APIs, tools, and more with Node.js!

Now you've got Node.js on Windows machine. It's time to start exploring!

Luckily, we've got your back. We've written a bunch of articles to help you get started with Node.js! If you're interested in exploring ES6, you should check out our article on some of the most exciting ES6 features in Node.js. If you're interested in ways to collaborate with your team a bit better, you should check out our tutorial on using ESLint in projects to improve team collaboration through code standards. Maybe you'd just like to start deploying the applications you're about to build? In that case, take a peek at our guide on how to deploy Node.js apps on Linux with systemd!

That said, if you want to keep in touch with Node.js and the surrounding ecosystem, you should go follow @NodeSource on Twitter! We'll keep you updated with important news from the Node.js project, and share the best Node.js tutorials, guides, and tools that the community has to offer.

Just like any programming language, platform, or library, getting up and running with Node.js takes some initial setup before you can start hacking away. With Node.js, the only initial setup required is, quite simply, getting the binary installed.

In this quick tutorial, we'll take a quick look at how to get Node.js on macOS. Once we've completed the entirety of the tutorial, you'll be ready to take the next step with Node.js.

This guide covers installing Node.js on the following versions of OS X and macOS: OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), and macOS 10.11. These are the versions that are consistently tested and supported by the Node.js build process at the time of writing.

Step 0: The Quick Guide (TL;DR) to Get Node.js Installed on macOS

Here's the abbreviated guide, highlighting the major steps:

1. Go to the Node.js Downloads page
2. Download Node.js for macOS by clicking the "Macintosh Installer" option
3. Run the downloaded Node.js .pkg Installer
4. Run the installer, including accepting the license, selecting the destination, and authenticating for the install.
5. You're finished! To ensure Node.js has been installed, run node -v in your terminal - you should get something like v6.9.4

Step 1: Download the Node.js .pkg Installer

As our first step, we need to actually get the official installer for Node.js on macOS. To do so, we can head over to the Node.js Downloads page to download the installer.

You can get the macOS installer by clicking the Macintosh Installer option - this will download the .pkg installer for Node.js. Make sure you save it somewhere that you'll be able to access it!

Step 2: Run the Node.js Installer

Now that you've got the installer downloaded, you'll need to run it. The installer is a pretty typical interface - it won't take long to get through it (under a minute), even though there are a few parts to it. You can get through it by following the guide below:

• Introduction

  • Select Continue

• License

  • Select Continue
  • Select Agree

• Installation Type

  • Select Install
  • Authenticate with your Mac to allow the Installation
  • Select Install Software

• Summary

  • Select Close

Step 3: Verify that Node.js was Properly installed

To verify that Node.js was installed correctly on your Mac, you can run the following command in your terminal:

$ node -v

If Node.js was properly installed, you'll see something close to (but probably not exactly) this:

$ node -v // The command we ran - tests the version of Node.js that's currently installed 
v6.9.4 // The version of Node.js that's installed - v6.9.4 was the most current LTS release at the time of writing.

Step 4: Update Your npm Version

As one last step for good measure, we'll update your version of npm.

Node.js always ships with a specific version of npm - Node.js doesn't (and shouldn't!) automatically update npm. The npm releases aren't synced with Node.js releases. Because of this, there's almost always a newer version of npm than the one that is installed by default with a given version of Node.

To easily update your version of npm, you can run the following command:

$ sudo npm install npm --global // Update the `npm` CLI client

Step 6: Start building with Node.js!

Now you've got Node.js on your Mac. It's time to start exploring!

Thankfully, we've got your back. We've got a ton of articles on getting started with Node.js! If you're interested in exploring ES6, you should check out our article on some of the most exciting ES6 features in Node.js. Looking for ways to standardize your JavaScript code across your team? In that case, you should check out our guide to using ESLint to build code standards in Node.js applications. Maybe you'd just like to start deploying your applications? In that case, check out our guide on deploying Node.js apps with systemd!

That said, if you want to keep in touch with Node.js and the surrounding ecosystem, you should go follow @NodeSource on Twitter! We'll keep you updated with important news from the Node.js project, and share the best Node.js tutorials, guides, and tools that the community has to offer!

This article was first published in NodeSource blog on January 2017.

As with any programming language, platform, or tool, the first step to using it is getting it installed. Many of them typically come with a speedy way to upgrade when a new version is available.

By default, there's not a way to upgrade the version of Node.js you've got from within Node.js itself. That said, there's a fantastic tool for the community called nvm that allows you to manage the versions of Node.js that you've got installed locally.

One awesome aspect of nvm is that it manages the versions of Node.js, it doesn't just upgrade them. This means you can have the latest version of Node.js, the latest versions of all the LTS release lines, and any number of other versions you want to use or test as well.

In this quick tutorial, we'll take a look at how to install nvm, and then how to start using it as your version manager for Node.js. Once we've completed the tutorial, you'll be ready to take the next step with Node.js.

This guide covers installing nvm on macOS and Linux - note that all versions of Node.js may not support every version of macOS or Linux.

Step 0: The Quick Guide (TL;DR) to Get Node.js Installed using nvm

Here's the abbreviated guide, highlighting the major steps:

• Download the nvm install script via cURL:

  • curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.0/install.sh | bash
• Ensure that nvm was installed correctly with nvm --version, which should return the version of nvm installed.

• Install the version of Node.js you want

  • Install the latest version with nvm install node
  • Use the latest version with nvm use node
  • Install the latest LTS version with nvm install --lts
  • Use the latest LTS verison with nvm use --lts

Step 1 (Optional): Ensure your system has the appropriate C++ compiler

In some cases, like when installing Node.js releases from their source or installing versions of Node.js before 0.8.6 (when the project started shipping binaries), you'll need to ensure that your system has the appropriate C++ build tools.

For LTS and modern releases, you will not need this step. That said, it's a nice to have to ensure that the majority of requirements are met in any scenario.

On macOS, you've got two options for a C++ compiler: the full XCode application or the stand-alone Command Line Tools portion of Xcode.

To get these on macOS, you can follow these steps:

• Open your terminal of choice

• Run xcode-select --install as a command

  • A popup will appear
  • Select Install
• Allow the download to run to completion
• If the installation went uninterrupted, you should have the necessary tools to use nvm!

On Linux, the C++ compiler will vary from distribution to distribution. For example, on Debian and Ubuntu, you'll need to install build-tools and libssl-dev, but this may be different on your given Linux distribution.

To get build-tools and libssl-dev on Debuan and Ubuntu distributions, you can run these commands:

sudo apt-get install build-essential # Install the build-essential package - let this run to completion

sudo apt-get install libssl-dev # Install the libssl-dev package - also let this one run to completion

Step 2: Download nvm with the install script

Once you've got the right C++ compiler for your system, now it's time to run the nvm install script. Here are the single-step install scripts for both macOS and Linux. You've got the option of cURL or Wget but both achieve the same result.

Note: If your Linux system doesn't have either cURL or Wget, you can run sudo apt-get install curl and use the cURL method.

Running the Install Script with cURL:

To install nvm with the cURL method, run the following command in your terminal:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.0/install.sh | bash

Using the Install Script with Wget:

To install nvm with the Wget method, run the following command in your terminal:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.0/install.sh | bash

Step 3: Verify that nvm was Properly installed

After running the install script from Step 2, nvm should have successfully installed. To ensure that nvm is up and running on your machine, you can test it with the following command:

nvm --version

This command will return something like (though not necessarily exactly) the following:

nvm --version # The command we ran - it checks the currently installed version of nvm
0.33.0 # The current version of nvm - yours may differ!

Missing the nvm command after running the install script?

If you're using macOS, you may be missing a .bash_profile file - to troubleshoot this, you can run touch ~/.bash_profile in your command line and re-run the installer script.

If the problem persists after that, you can open the existing .bash_profile file (using your favorite text editor) and add the following line to it:

source ~/.bashrc

If you're still having issues, you can take a peek at this issue to find a discussion of the problem and a collection of possible resolutions.

Step 3: Using nvm to manage Node.js

Congratulations! You've now got nvm - a tool to easily allow you to manage and swap out the versions of Node.js you've got installed locally. Now, let's get you started with doing just that.

Install the latest Node.js version

To install the latest available version of Node.js, you can use the following command:

nvm install node

Next, to use that version of Node.js in any new shell, you can simply run the use command:

nvm use node

Install the latest Node.js LTS version

To install the latest available LTS version of Node.js, you can run the following command:

nvm install --lts

And to use that latatestTS version of Node.js in any new shell, you can simply run the use command:

nvm use --lts

Step 6: Go build applications, APIs, tools, and more with Node.js!

Now you've got a fantastic version manager for Node.js. It's time to start building!

We've got some resources to get you kickstarted! Both the breadth and depth of the Node.js and the JavaScript ecosystems are quite large - in addition to the developer tools like NodeSource N|Solid and Certified Modules, we've got a ton of tutorials, guides, and articles to help you get kick started with Node.js.

If you're interested in keeping your code clean, maintainable, and collaborative, take a peek at our post on using ESLint for linting your JavaScript applications. Are you interested in building web applications with Node.js? One of the most challenging aspects of web apps is security - you can learn security best practices for Express to lock down your web apps, to prevent breaches and attacks. Or, maybe you want to deploy your Node.js apps with Docker? Then you should definitely read our article on dockerizing your Node.js applications.

That said, if you want to keep in touch with the Node.js ecosystem, you should follow @NodeSource on Twitter! We'll keep you updated with important news from the core Node.js project, fresh and useful Node.js tutorials, and more.