title: "npm faq" fails on Windows 7 ("spawn ENOENT" errors)
body: <p>I have installed node.js on Windows 7 with their latest installer. It seemed to work, I can call <code>npm</code> and <code>node</code> from the console (either cmd or PowerShell), but I keep getting errors.</p>
  
  <p>There are a lot of questions here about node.js on windows, but they all mention some specific piece of code. I'm getting the "spawn ENOENT" with a lot of simple commands, for instance <code>yo</code>, if I then pick "update generators" :</p>
  
  <pre><code>events.js:72
          throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
                ^
  Error: spawn ENOENT
      at errnoException (child_process.js:988:11)
      at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:779:34)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>even <code>npm faq</code> fails :</p>
  
  <pre><code>PS E:\www\something&gt; npm faq
  npm ERR! Error: spawn ENOENT
  npm ERR!     at errnoException (child_process.js:988:11)
  npm ERR!     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:779:34)
  npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this *entire* log,
  npm ERR! including the npm and node versions, at:
  npm ERR!     &lt;http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It seems that the problem is that node uses unix command names like <code>dir</code>, which do not exist on Windows. Some blog posts mention using Cygwin, but mostly for <em>building</em> node.js, not for calling it. The official nodejs website doesn't mention that cygwin is a prerequisite, either.</p>
  
  <p>Here's the npm-debug.log :</p>
  
  <pre><code>0 info it worked if it ends with ok
  1 verbose cli [ 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\\\node.exe',
  1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
  1 verbose cli   'faq' ]
  2 info using npm@1.3.24
  3 info using node@v0.10.25
  4 verbose node symlink C:\Program Files\nodejs\\node.exe
  5 error Error: spawn ENOENT
  5 error     at errnoException (child_process.js:988:11)
  5 error     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:779:34)
  6 error If you need help, you may report this *entire* log,
  6 error including the npm and node versions, at:
  6 error     &lt;http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues&gt;
  7 error System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
  8 error command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "faq"
  9 error cwd E:\
  10 error node -v v0.10.25
  11 error npm -v 1.3.24
  12 error syscall spawn
  13 error code ENOENT
  14 error errno ENOENT
  15 verbose exit [ 1, true ]
  </code></pre>