When installing global modules, Yarn tries to create .cmd file in wrong directory

[gaearon]

What is the current behavior?

Yarn fails to install create-react-app:

C:\Users\gaearon>yarn global add create-react-app
yarn global v0.17.10
[1/4] Resolving packages...
[2/4] Fetching packages...
[3/4] Linking dependencies...
[4/4] Building fresh packages...
success Installed create-react-app@1.0.0 with binaries:
      - create-react-app
error An unexpected error occurred: "EPERM: operation not permitted, open 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\create-react-app.cmd'".
info If you think this is a bug, please open a bug report with the information provided in "C:\\Users\\gaearon\\AppData\\Local\\Yarn\\config\\global\\yarn-error.log".
info Visit https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/global for documentation about this command.

I have no such problem with npm:

C:\Users\gaearon> npm i -g create-react-app
C:\Users\gaearon\AppData\Roaming\npm\create-react-app -> C:\Users\gaearon\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\create-react-app\index.js
C:\Users\gaearon\AppData\Roaming\npm
`-- create-react-app@1.0.0
  ...

If the current behavior is a bug, please provide the steps to reproduce.

yarn global add create-react-app

What is the expected behavior?

It gets installed.

Please mention your node.js, yarn and operating system version.

Node 6.9.2
Yarn 0.17.10
Windows 10 Enterprise 10.0.14393 Build 14393

Yarn log

https://gist.github.com/gaearon/e67437d7a4102fe696a34dec2c7fe825

[gaearon]

If you work at FB you can repro this with a loaner Windows laptop.

[Mikeysauce]

This is an issue with all global installs on windows in my experience. #1324 (comment) is the effect and the solution. I noted that the path generated in the example.cmd file is incorrect whilst the path in the example.cmd.cmd is correct, hence deleting and renaming fixes this bug.

[Daniel15]

Really bizarre, it's trying to write the file to C:\Program Files\Nodejs instead of in %LocalAppData% (C:\Users\gaearon\AppData\Local\ in your case). I remember seeing another issue about this. You can't write to C:\Program Files without escalating the process to admin rights, so it's the wrong place to put these files. From memory, they should actually be ending up in %LocalAppData%\Yarn\

[juvasquezg]

The same with react-native

yarn global add react-native-cli

with

react-native --version

and I get "$basedir/../../Users/juvasquezg/AppData/Local/Yarn/config/global/node_modules/.bin/react-native.cmd" "$@"

the system cannot find the path specified

Go to C:\Program Files\nodejs and I saw:

• react-native
• react-native.cmd
• react-native.cmd.cmd

The fix is to delete react-native.cmd and rename react-native.cmd.cmd to react-native.cmd

The Solution #1324 (comment)

[neojp]

I've noticed that installing a global package works when using Powershell instead of Cmd. Binaries are saved on %LocalAppData%\Yarn\config\global\node_modules\.bin.

The only problem I noticed is that the Windows Installer sets the wrong PATH to %LocalAppData%\Yarn\.bin. It's alsos after the NPM path %AppData%\npm which overrides access to any duplicated binaries installed through there.

This could be easily addressed by fixing the PATH in the Windows Installer and adding a note for Windows usage in the docs stating that it's only compatible with PowerShell.

Is the Windows Installer in a different repo? I wouldn't mind sending a PR with these changes.

[dcu-sharepoint]

@juvasquezg I don't have yarn installed on my system and I get the same error when running create-react-app to create a boilerplate app. when running the create-react-app command on a cmd window, the windows disappears when the command fails. I only see the error when I run the command in powershell.

I see the create-react-app command is looking for some command file in a yarn directory which does not exit since yarn is not installed on my system.

[gaearon]

I see the create-react-app command is looking for some command file in a yarn directory which does not exit since yarn is not installed on my system.

I think this is because you previously installed create-react-app with Yarn, so that's likely where the installation points to. Try running npm install -g create-react-app to reinstall it with npm.