NPM install hangs when Extracting Packages

NPM can sometimes be a bit annoying. Recently I had the issue that npm install was stuck extracting certain packages. Here is one possible solution.

First, you could try to remove node_modules folder and re-run npm install. If this does not work, or ends up in the same situation, you can as well remove your package-lock.json file, remove the node_modules folder and re-run npm install.

Here are the steps:

Another option is a mismatched NodeJS version. In some cases, a package-lock.json which was generated with a newer NodeJS version, can lead to lock ups during an npm install. I noticed this behavior when using different development machines (laptop at client site and a desktop at my home office). Different NodeJS versions can lead to unexpected behavior. This is why always advice to create a common development environment using Nix or Docker.