Windows installer adds a malformed Node.js entry to PATH

[nikita-kiselev-dev]

Version

24.21.0

Platform

After installing Node.js with the Windows installer, I found a malformed entry in the system PATH:

;C:\Program Files\nodejs

It has a trailing double quote, so it does not point to the Node.js installation directory. The correct entry should be:

C:\Program Files\nodejs\

When a process inherits the malformed entry without the valid one, commands such as npx cannot be resolved, even though npx.cmd is present in the installation directory.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install Node.js using the Windows installer.
2. Inspect the system PATH.
3. Check whether it contains ;C:\Program Files\nodejs.
4. With that entry in the process PATH, run where.exe npx.

Actual result

where.exe npx cannot find npx, although C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx.cmd exists.

Expected result

The installer should add the correct Node.js directory to PATH without a trailing quote.

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

• Check path settings in Windows settings.

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Always

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

C:\Program Files\nodejs

What do you see instead?

;C:\Program Files\nodejs

Additional information

No response

[MikeMcC399]

I'm unable to reproduce your issue. You may like to try uninstalling Node.js and re-installing.

[MikeMcC399]

Before installation, a typical set of Windows 11 System Environment Variables could look like this:

---

Installing node-v24.21.0-x64.msi shows a dialog with the proposed default path C:\Program Files\nodejs\

---

This is added to the System Environment Variables:

[MikeMcC399]

What is the output of the following command executed in a cmd command window?

reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v PATH

[StefanStojanovic]

I also cannot reproduce this, and as @MikeMcC399 already explained, this is very unlikely to be a default Node.js MSI behavior.

[MikeMcC399]

@nikita-kiselev-dev

I'm going to close this issue, as we haven't been able to reproduce. You can still reply here if you need help.