Installing and using npm (Node.js) module on Windows 2008 server - node.js

Question

Can someone please advise - how to resolve this? This setup works fine locally on Windows 7 laptop, but fails on Windows 2008 server.
Here is the setup:
1. Using ASP.NET Core App and NodeServices on Windows Server 2008.
2. Installed Node.js and NPM on the server.
Logged in as one of the admin accounts "xyz". When I install a npm module - in this case, cypress test framework, it installs under the path:
C:\Users\xyz\AppData\Local
But when I run the application, it looks for the module under the path:
C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Cypress\Cache\3.1.5\Cypress\
The application fails, complaining that the module is not found.
Things I tried so far:
1. Copied the cypress module directly from user localappdata folder to above location. Then it works.
2. Tried giving full path to the var cypress = require('cypress') - it finds the module, but whenever we try to use cypress, gives the same error.
3. Tried changing the nom prefix as well as cache location to the above path, but npm install cypress always installs under user's localappdata path only.
Any ideas on how to - either make the npm install, install the module at desired location. OR make the application look at the desired path?
Thanks a lot.
Here is the error:
An unhandled exception occurred while processing the request.
NodeInvocationException: No version of Cypress is installed in: C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Cypress\Cache\3.1.5\Cypress
Please reinstall Cypress by running: cypress install
----------
Cypress executable not found at: C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Cypress\Cache\3.1.5\Cypress\Cypress.exe
----------
Platform: win32 (6.1.7601)
Cypress Version: 3.1.5
Error: No version of Cypress is installed in: C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Cypress\Cache\3.1.5\Cypress
Please reinstall Cypress by running: cypress install
----------
Cypress executable not found at: C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Cypress\Cache\3.1.5\Cypress\Cypress.exe
----------
Platform: win32 (6.1.7601)
Cypress Version: 3.1.5
at raise (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\errors.js:161:13)
From previous event:
at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\EmbeddedDashboard\node_modules\cypress\lib\errors.js:169:37
at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\tasks\verify.js:48:60
From previous event:
at checkExecutable (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\tasks\verify.js:43:11)
at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\tasks\verify.js:213:12
at processImmediate [as _immediateCallback] (timers.js:383:17)
From previous event:
at Object.start (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\tasks\verify.js:212:6)
at Object.start (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\exec\run.js:130:19)
at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\cypress.js:29:19
at _fileCreated (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\tmp\lib\tmp.js:246:7)
at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:82:15)
From previous event:
at Object.run (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\node_modules\cypress\lib\cypress.js:26:28)
at module.exports.cypress.run.then (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\projectTest\Scripts\RunTests.js:4:13)
at C:\Windows\TEMP\mecqsmig.e5o:166:18
at IncomingMessage.<anonymous> (C:\Windows\TEMP\mecqsmig.e5o:186:37)
at emitNone (events.js:67:13)
at IncomingMessage.emit (events.js:166:7)
at endReadableNT (_stream_readable.js:905:12)
at nextTickCallbackWith2Args (node.js:474:9)
at process._tickCallback (node.js:388:17)
Microsoft.AspNetCore.NodeServices.HostingModels.HttpNodeInstance.InvokeExportAsync<T>(NodeInvocationInfo invocationInfo, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

Answer 1

Cypress uses cachedir to find the correct location to install Cypress into. C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile is the home folder of the SYSTEM user on Windows. Somehow, npm install is being executed as SYSTEM, not as your user. This would cause Cypress will attempt to install to SYSTEM's %APPDATA% directory, which is C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile.

Answer 2

This would make sense, according to the system requirements of Cypress:
Windows 7+, only 32bit binaries are provided for Windows.

Answer 3

I figured out how to resolve this. For some reason, when I run the application, even though it is configured to run under a service account, it still kept using the default system location for cache location.
You can configure the cache location of Cypress by setting an environment variable to your desired location. That resolved the issue for me. Here is the link to it: https://docs.cypress.io/guides/getting-started/installing-cypress.html#Binary-cache
Basically, you set a value to this environment variable CYPRESS_CACHE_FOLDER and you are set.
Hope this helps someone.