# "unable to find usable node.js executable" \[SOLVED\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Kibana\ **Created:** [March 2, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264 "2016-03-02T15:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/1 "2016-03-02T15:35:44Z")
Hello all, I've successfully installed ES 1.4.2 with Kibana 3.1.2 on a 64-bit Windows 7 Pro machine (for testing reasons I need to install this specific old version). Entering the directory c:\elasticsearch-1.4.2\bin\kibana and running kibana or kibana.bat from command prompt results in the following error: _unable to find usable node.js executable_ ES is running and correctly serving JSON stuff on port 9200. Thanks in advance for any tip. ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/2 "2016-03-02T18:46:02Z")
Kibana 3.1.2 doesn't have a bin\kibana or bin\kibana.bat. Which version of Kibana do you _actually_ have? ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/3 "2016-03-03T06:35:12Z")
Also; > [@dr01](#): > > c:\elasticsearch-1.4.2\bin\kibana Is not right. ---
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 9:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/4 "2016-03-03T09:18:12Z")
It's 3.1.2 as far as I know. I tried downloading the plugin and putting it into the plugin dir as suggested in [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/1.4/modules-plugins.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/1.4/modules-plugins.html), but ES didn't recognize the plugin. Therefore I installed it via the second method, `plugin --install elastic/kibana/3.1.2`. ---
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 9:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/5 "2016-03-03T09:21:41Z")
> [@warkolm](#): > > Also; > c:\elasticsearch-1.4.2\bin\kibana > > Is not right. Can you please elaborate? The `plugin` command installed automatically Kibana there. ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 9:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/6 "2016-03-03T09:26:20Z")
> [@dr01](#): > > plugin --install elastic/kibana/3.1.2. You could never install KB as a plugin to ES in this manner, so I don't know what's happening. ---
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 10:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/7 "2016-03-03T10:29:31Z")
Ok, I see. Then probably there's an issue -- Elasticsearch shouldn't permit Kibana to be installed as a plugin. Anyway, I've downloaded again Kibana 3.1.2 and unzipped the archive into c:\kibana-3.1.2. In the guide [Kibana [3.0] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/3.0/index.html) it is not specified how to install Kibana. When running kibana or kibana.bat, the same error appears: _unable to find usable node.js executable_. This happens either with the default configuration, or by specifying explicitly the URL in the `config.js` file: `elasticsearch: "http://192.168.77.250:9200"` Thanks in advance. EDIT: Now I see where the misunderstanding might have came from. [Wikipedia says](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibana) (emphasis mine): > "Kibana is an open source data visualization **plugin** for Elasticsearch. " ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/8 "2016-03-03T12:13:30Z")
Again, there is no bin/kibana or bin/kibana.bat in Kibana 3.1.2. I have no idea what file you're trying to run. Kibana 3 is just a web app with no server side parts. The installation consists of configuring an arbitrary web server to serve the Kibana directory from the file system. ---
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/9 "2016-03-03T14:00:22Z")
> [@magnusbaeck](#): > > Again, there is no bin/kibana or bin/kibana.bat in Kibana 3.1.2. I have no idea what file you're trying to run. I reinstalled Kibana after downloading it from [here](https://www.elastic.co/downloads/past-releases/kibana-3-1-2) and it's not in \bin, it's in the main Kibana directory C:\kibana-3.1.2\kibana.bat. Here's its contents: ``` @echo off SETLOCAL set SCRIPT_DIR=%~dp0 for %%I in ("%SCRIPT_DIR%..") do set DIR=%%~dpfI set NODE=%DIR%\node\node.exe WHERE /Q node IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 ( for /f "delims=" %%i in ('WHERE node') do set SYS_NODE=%%i ) If Not Exist "%NODE%" ( IF Exist "%SYS_NODE%" ( set "NODE=%SYS_NODE%" ) else ( Echo unable to find usable node.js executable. Exit /B 1 ) ) TITLE Kibana Server "%NODE%" %NODE_OPTIONS% "%DIR%\src\cli" %* :finally ENDLOCAL ``` I've done the same install under Linux, with ES and Kibana running on the same machine, and it was straightforward. However, on Windows it is unclear where one should put the unzipped directory, as that's not described in the guide. If you can provide some guidance on this I'd be happy to hear. ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/10 "2016-03-03T19:35:10Z")
Kibana **does not** contain a kibana.bat. The file above is kibana.bat from Kibana 4: [https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/bin/kibana.bat](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/bin/kibana.bat) Which Kibana are you trying to run—3 or 4? ---
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/11 "2016-03-04T09:22:58Z")
I downloaded the Kibana 3.1.2 zipfile again, and you are absolutely right. The kibana.bat I have in my system must be a remnant of a previous automatic installation of the latest version via the `plugin` command, which also messed up my Kibana directory. I wiped the old Kibana dir and unzipped the zipfile. I see now that there are also install instructions, so it should be fine. I need to run a version of Kibana that is compatible with ES 1.4.2. By comparing the [past release dates](https://www.elastic.co/downloads/past-releases/) version 3.1.2 - which went out around the same time as ES 1.4.2 - is a good fit. ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/12 "2016-03-04T09:40:22Z")
That's not a very good reason for running Kibana 3. Kibana 3 won't work with ES 2.0 so unless you want to use unofficial forks of Kibana 3 you won't be able to upgrade ES. I'm sure there are Kibana 4 releases that are compatible with ES 1.4.2. ---
**Author:** ![dr01](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dr01/32/8482_2.png) [@dr01](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dr01)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/13 "2016-03-04T09:55:41Z")
Thanks, point noted. This is just a test installation and I won't upgrade this ES, but it's good to know. ---
**Author:** ![amits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@amits](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/amits)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/14 "2016-09-28T13:34:38Z")
Hi Magnus, I am running kibana from terminal and it is showing some ERROR. Can you please check where is the issue? It says it is unable to find the node.js. Where do I have to install node.js?? amits@localhost bin]$ ./kibana which: no node in (/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/home/amits/.local/bin:/home/amits/bin) unable to find usable node.js executable. Thanks in advance. -amits ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/15 "2016-09-28T14:02:39Z")
@amits, please start a new thread for your unrelated question. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-solved/43264/16 "2017-07-06T13:37:57Z")