im trying to follow
but Im getting this
why am I getting the err\or?
Hi,
The error is pretty clear: ENOENT: no such file or directory, lstat 'C:\Users\16199\AppData\Roaming\npm'
Try manually creating that folder and then re-running the command — it may resolve the immediate issue.
That said, Create React App has been sunset and is no longer actively maintained. If you’re just getting into React, I’d strongly consider using something like Vite (for lightweight SPAs), or even a full framework like Next.js or Remix, depending on your needs. You might also want to look at Vue or Svelte, depending on what you’re building.
Also worth noting is that this error could be a symptom of a broken or incomplete Node.js installation. CRA shouldn’t be throwing a missing-directory error on a healthy setup. If matters persist, you might want to look at reinstalling Node and ideally using a version manager like nvm-windows, which helps avoid environment/permissions issues.
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ok, just trying to learn react, on my computer first, then ill move on to
Just reinstalled node and
But, when I try to start…
Do you know of a fix?
I believe that the error you’re seeing is because PowerShell is blocking the npm script (npm.ps1) due to Windows’ execution policy settings.
Just for testing purposes, try running the same command (npm start) from Command Prompt (CMD) instead of PowerShell, then post the results back here.
that was it, when I run it from th e CMD, it seems to work and opens up powershell
I got the error when IK tried to run it from Visual Studio
can I not use that?
You can use Visual Studio Code, but by default it uses PowerShell, which is stricter with script execution (as you saw). That’s why npm.ps1 fails there.
Two options:
- Switch VS Code’s terminal to CMD or Git Bash (click the dropdown next to the + in the terminal tab → select your shell)
- Allow PowerShell to run scripts by running this as admin:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned. More info here.