How to resolve "EPERM: operation not permitted" error when installing Yeoman SharePoint generator?

The SharePointFramework (SPFx) is a page and web part model that provides full support for client-side SharePoint development, easy integration with SharePoint data, and support for open source tooling. With the SharePoint Framework, you can use modern web technologies and tools in your preferred development environment to build productive experiences and apps that are responsive and mobile-ready from day one. The SharePoint Framework works for SharePoint Online and soon also for on-premises (SharePoint 2016 Feature Pack 2).

One step to Set up your SharePoint client-side web part development environment is to Install Yeoman SharePoint generator. We run into the issue the installation failed with the following error.

 131672 verbose stack Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, rename 'C:\Users\harryc\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@microsoft\generator-sharepoint' -> 'C:\Users\harryc\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@microsoft\.generator-sharepoint.DELETE'

Here are some steps to help you to resolve this or workaround this issue.

1. First, verify to run the script as administrator.

2. Second verify the npm and node version are in supported version.  You can use the following command to verify the versions. Install the support versions, clean up the npm cache, and try again.

npm -v

3.10.10

node -v

v6.12.0

 npm cache clean --force

3. Disable anti-virus. If you have anti-virus (Avast) software, disable it before installation as in other blog.

4. Stop Windows Defender. If you have Windows Defender running, you could as administrator to stop it during the installation.

5. Copy the Yeoman SharePoint generator files from another machine. If none of the above options are available for you, the workaround I used to work around this issue is to copy the Yeoman SharePoint generator files. Here is the details and tricks.

Install the Yeoman SharePoint generator on different machine (VM 2012 R2 for example) that has no issue. Copy all the folders and files under to the machine that failed to install.

C:\tools\node-v6.12.0-win-x64\node_modules\@microsoft\*.*

If you try to copy the everything in one copy, you might run into copy error. I would recommend to copy few folders and files under the ..\@microsoft\generator-sharepoint\node_modules folder at a time.

After you have all folders and files copied, you could use this machine to develop The SharePoint Framework (SPFx) now.