azure-pipelines-tasks: npm.cmd failed with return code: 4294963238

same issue here, please let me know if there is a better solution than retry and pray

Hello! I’m a PM over on the Azure Artifacts team. I wanted to drop in here and address some of these issues with the news that we’re currently reevaluating the types of tasks we offer in Azure Pipelines, and looking to focus more on lighter-weight tasks that cover authentication and setup. In lieu of the task redesign, we’re going to forego making changes to the current tasks (with a few exceptions). We hope the new tasks we spin up in the next quarter or so are easier and more helpful, be on the lookout!

Same issue here on npm install:

2018-08-03T15:33:15.2970556Z ##[section]Starting: npm install
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z ==============================================================================
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z Task         : npm
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z Description  : Run an npm command
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z Version      : 0.2.22
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z Author       : Microsoft Corporation
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z Help         : [More Information](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=613746)
2018-08-03T15:33:15.3283078Z ==============================================================================
2018-08-03T15:33:16.7345645Z [command]C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd config list
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z ; cli configs
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z metrics-registry = "https://registry.npmjs.org/"
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z scope = ""
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z user-agent = "npm/6.2.0 node/v10.8.0 win32 x64"
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z 
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z ; builtin config undefined
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z prefix = "C:\\Users\\TFSUser\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm"
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z 
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z ; node bin location = C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z ; cwd = D:\TFBuildWorks\51\s\ProLunch.Ng
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z ; HOME = C:\Users\TFSUser
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z ; "npm config ls -l" to show all defaults.
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1251891Z 
2018-08-03T15:33:18.1720627Z [command]C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd install
2018-08-03T15:38:17.8601572Z npm WARN tarball tarball data for devextreme@18.1.5 (sha1-AGqkrxR/tBRIAeLMjlIPiIVdw2Y=) seems to be corrupted. Trying one more time.
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR! path D:\TFBuildWorks\51\s\ProLunch.Ng\node_modules\.staging\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\dist\js\dx.web.debug.js
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR! code EPERM
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR! errno -4048
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR! syscall unlink
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR! Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink 'D:\TFBuildWorks\51\s\ProLunch.Ng\node_modules\.staging\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\dist\js\dx.web.debug.js'
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!  { [Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink 'D:\TFBuildWorks\51\s\ProLunch.Ng\node_modules\.staging\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\dist\js\dx.web.debug.js']
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   cause:
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!    { Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink 'D:\TFBuildWorks\51\s\ProLunch.Ng\node_modules\.staging\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\dist\js\dx.web.debug.js'
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!      errno: -4048,
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!      code: 'EPERM',
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!      syscall: 'unlink',
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!      path:
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!       'D:\\TFBuildWorks\\51\\s\\ProLunch.Ng\\node_modules\\.staging\\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\\dist\\js\\dx.web.debug.js' },
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   stack:
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!    'Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink \'D:\\TFBuildWorks\\51\\s\\ProLunch.Ng\\node_modules\\.staging\\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\\dist\\js\\dx.web.debug.js\'',
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   errno: -4048,
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   code: 'EPERM',
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   syscall: 'unlink',
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   path:
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!    'D:\\TFBuildWorks\\51\\s\\ProLunch.Ng\\node_modules\\.staging\\devextreme-cc2dcbe5\\dist\\js\\dx.web.debug.js',
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR!   parent: 'prolunch' }
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6731389Z npm ERR! 
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! It's possible that the file was already in use (by a text editor or antivirus),
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! or that you lack permissions to access it.
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! 
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
2018-08-03T15:42:27.6887648Z npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator (though this is not recommended).
2018-08-03T15:42:27.8918886Z 
2018-08-03T15:42:27.9075147Z npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
2018-08-03T15:42:27.9075147Z npm ERR!     C:\Users\TFSUser\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2018-08-03T15_42_27_742Z-debug.log
2018-08-03T15:42:28.0950234Z ##[error]npm failed with error: C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd failed with return code: 4294963248

I’m also facing the same issue during CI build in VSTS for an Angular application. Is there any solution for it. The “npm install” task executes well but the “npm run-script build” fails.

@hisuwh We have not seen any npm install failures since changing to a Command Line task for the npm install step

We are observing the same intermittent failure when running the npm install step of our CI pipeline. Has there been any update on this? This issue makes running CI via Azure Pipelines almost unusable.

Since 6/29, I’ve seen nearly 50% failure rates on CI builds, for this NPM error. As @kentonbmax says, if you queue the build again, it usually works, but that’s a giant pain for a CI build you’re expecting to just work. What do you need from us to diagnose this and fix it?

$StopLoop = $false
[int]$RetryCount = 0

do {
    npm install
    Write-Host "Exit code $LASTEXITCODE"

    if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
        Write-Host "Npm install complete"
        $StopLoop = $true

    } elseif ($RetryCount -gt 2) {
        Write-Host "Could not complete npm install after 3 attempts"
        $StopLoop = $true

    } else {
        Write-Host "Could not run npm install retrying in 5 seconds"
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
        $RetryCount = $RetryCount + 1
    }
}
While ($StopLoop -eq $false)

Man this helps me a lot!

We were experiencing this issue increasingly often and so have implemented a workaround using a powershell script to retry. This is not ideal obviously as it increases our build times

$StopLoop = $false
[int]$RetryCount = 0

do {
    npm install
    Write-Host "Exit code $LASTEXITCODE"

    if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
        Write-Host "Npm install complete"
        $StopLoop = $true

    } elseif ($RetryCount -gt 2) {
        Write-Host "Could not complete npm install after 3 attempts"
        $StopLoop = $true

    } else {
        Write-Host "Could not run npm install retrying in 5 seconds"
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
        $RetryCount = $RetryCount + 1
    }
}
While ($StopLoop -eq $false)