Why do I get these errors when I type npm install in the terminal? - npm

Question

Whenever I install anything with npm, I get the following error list:
npm ERR! code EPERM
npm ERR! syscall mkdir
npm ERR! path C:\Users\Firstname~1
npm ERR! errno -4048
npm ERR! Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, mkdir 'C:\Users\Firstname~1'
npm ERR! [OperationalError: EPERM: operation not permitted, mkdir 'C:\Users\Firstname~1'] {
npm ERR! cause: [Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, mkdir 'C:\Users\Firstname~1'] {
npm ERR! errno: -4048,
npm ERR! code: 'EPERM',
npm ERR! syscall: 'mkdir',
npm ERR! path: 'C:\\Users\\Firstname~1'
npm ERR! },
npm ERR! isOperational: true,
npm ERR! errno: -4048,
npm ERR! code: 'EPERM',
npm ERR! syscall: 'mkdir',
npm ERR! path: 'C:\\Users\\Firstname~1'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It's possible that the file was already in use (by a text editor or antivirus),
npm ERR! or that you lack permissions to access it.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.
How can I resolve this? How can I run npm install by administrator?

Answer 1

Looks like an npm misconfiguration issue.
Ideally, you can configure it to use only directories that your user has access, so you won't need admin privileges just to install global packages.
First, check what's the npm prefix using a command like
npm config ls -l
I bet it will show something like
prefix = "C:\\Users\\"
Try to create at C:\Users{username}\ where {username} is your own, a .npmrc file with an entry like
prefix = "C:\\Users\\{username}\\some_dir_you_have_access"
Then use -g like npm install -g package, this way npm will try to install global packages in the path specified by "prefix" you've defined.
npm folders are documented here https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/configuring-npm/folders