title: Can't install socket.io on Windows 7
body: <p>I am new to Node.js and NPM. I am using Node v0.10.0 and when I run the npm install socket.io command I get the following error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\socket.io\node_modules\socket.io-
  client\node_modules\ws&gt;node "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\
  bin\node-gyp-bin\\..\..\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" rebuild
  C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\Microsoft.CppBuild.targets(29
  7,5): warning MSB8003: Could not find WindowsSDKDir variable from the registry.
  TargetFrameworkVersion or PlatformToolset may be set to an invalid version nu
  mber. [C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\socket.io\node_modules\so
  cket.io-client\node_modules\ws\build\bufferutil.vcxproj]
  bufferutil.cc
  c:\users\user\.node-gyp\0.10.0\deps\uv\include\uv-private/uv-win.h(32): fatal e
  rror C1083: Cannot open include file: 'winsock2.h': No such file or directory [
  C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\socket.io\node_modules\socket.io
  -client\node_modules\ws\build\bufferutil.vcxproj]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I guess this is a build error so I spent a bunch of time Googling and updating my Windows SDK, Visual Studio, .Net Framework, and so on. In one form or another I get the above error. According to this link <a href="https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/713415/erroneous-windows-sdk-x64-compilation-warning" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/713415/erroneous-windows-sdk-x64-compilation-warning</a> the warning is possibly erroneous as I am on an x64 machine. I do see that winsock2.h is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Include and have included that in my path. My path contains the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Program Files\nodejs\;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\vcpackages;
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Performance Toolkit\;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\include;
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Lib;
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Include;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\include;
  C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x64)\winext\manifest;
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Lib\x64;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Same error with this path. Any ideas?</p>