HOW TO RUN NODE.JS 18.18 LTS ON OBSOLETE WINDOWS 7

UPDATED ON: 2024-08-29

Node.js dropped Windows 7 “support” rigth after [version number 13] .What a load of sh#t.
Today i’ll tell you how to overcome this nonsense and run latest LTS version [Node.JS 18.x] without any problems.
More newer versions may work also. I’ll leave you some room for experiments.
Recently i found excellent already [patched installer of NodeJS 18]

First of all you need to download zipped version of software, not msi one.

node-v18.18.2-win-x64.7z   

or

node-v18.18.2-win-x64.zip  

Unpack archive in any folder on drive C. I’ll use this path:

C:\Program Files\nodejs

Then three system variables must be declared in Windows environment.

• Add to system Path following string:

C:\Program Files\nodejs

• Add to system variables NODE_PATH parameter with the same value:

C:\Program Files\nodejs

• And finally add to system variables NODE_SKIP_PLATFORM_CHECK parameter with value:

1

Usually things should work without reboot, but if you for some reason run into unexpected things please reboot just to make sure that everything is applied correctly.