"'vue-cli-service@latest' is missing from Windows npm registry but works fine in WSL"

Question

I have a Vue application that I'm trying to run using npm run start, but when I run the command from PowerShell or VS Code terminal I get the following error:

> economyapp@0.1.0 start C:_codemyapp
> npx vue-cli-service serve

npm ERR! code E404
npm ERR! 404 Not Found - GET https://registry.npmjs.org/vue-cli-service - Not found
npm ERR! 404
npm ERR! 404  'vue-cli-service@latest' is not in the npm registry.
npm ERR! 404 You should bug the author to publish it (or use the name yourself!)
npm ERR! 404
npm ERR! 404 Note that you can also install from a
npm ERR! 404 tarball, folder, http url, or git url.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:UsersUserAppDataRoamingnpm-cache_logs2020-11-28T17_22_02_307Z-debug.log
Install for [ 'vue-cli-service@latest' ] failed with code 1
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! economyapp@0.1.0 start: `npx vue-cli-service serve`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the economyapp@0.1.0 start script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:UsersUserAppDataRoamingnpm-cache_logs2020-11-28T17_22_02_401Z-debug.log

When I run the npm run start command from within WSL it works fine, but when I make changes to the code the server does not hot reload. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Vue CLI, and running npm install.

This is my package.json file:

{
  "name": "myapp",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "start": "npx vue-cli-service serve",
    "build": "npx vue-cli-service build",
    "test": "npx vue-cli-service test:unit",
    "lint": "npx vue-cli-service lint",
    "serve": "npx vue-cli-service serve"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "axios": "^0.21.0",
    "core-js": "^3.4.3",
    "lodash": "^4.17.15",
    "moment": "^2.24.0",
    "register-service-worker": "^1.6.2",
    "store2": "^2.11.1",
    "vue": "^3.0.0",
    "vue-router": "^3.1.3",
    "vuex": "^3.1.2"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/jest": "^24.0.19",
    "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^2.28.0",
    "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^2.28.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-babel": "^4.1.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-eslint": "^4.1.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-pwa": "^4.1.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-router": "^4.1.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-typescript": "^4.3.1",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-vuex": "^4.1.0",
    "@vue/cli-service": "^4.2.3",
    "@vue/devtools": "^5.3.3",
    "@vue/eslint-config-prettier": "^5.0.0",
    "@vue/eslint-config-typescript": "^5.0.2",
    "@vue/test-utils": "1.0.0-beta.29",
    "eslint": "^6.0.0",
    "eslint-plugin-prettier": "^3.1.1",
    "eslint-plugin-vue": "^6.0.0",
    "lint-staged": "^9.4.3",
    "prettier": "^1.19.1",
    "typescript": "^3.8.3",
    "vue-template-compiler": "^2.6.10"
  },
  "gitHooks": {
    "pre-commit": "lint-staged"
  },
  "lint-staged": {
    "*.{js,vue,ts}": [
      "vue-cli-service lint",
      "git add"
    ]
  }
}

Answer 1

TL;DR: Run npm install.

vue-cli-service is provided by @vue/cli-service in your devDependencies. Because you didn't specify the package in the npx command, it will fail if it has to look in the registry. Without npx, your npm script will look for vue-cli-service in node_modules/.bin. You can remove npx from the npm script and you should get the same result as now.

npxThe fact that vue-cli-service cannot be found indicates that you have not run npm install. Run it and your npm script should work fine. If you don't run npm install, you will definitely run into other problems once this is fixed.

If for some reason you want the npm script to work without running npm install, you can tell npx in the registry Find the location of the binary file. Change npx vue-cli-service in the npm script to npx -p @vue/cli-service vue-cli-service, this should solve the problem this problem. But you're bound to run into other problems. Regardless, you should run npm install.

But to really get to the root of the problem, you need to figure out why there is a difference in WSL and non-WSL environments. My guess is that you have @vue/cli-service installed somewhere globally and only WSL finds it in your PATH, but that's just a guess.