# Unable to find usable node.js executable while installing plugin

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [May 18, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146 "2020-05-18T15:50:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sudosu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sudosu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sudosu)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146/1 "2020-05-18T15:50:55Z")

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Hi guys,  
I am trying to install a plugin on my kibana usign the bin/kibana-install command and I got this error.  
unable to find usable node.js executable.  
Kibana Dev Version : 7.4.2  
Elasticsearch version: 7.4.2  
which node gives =\> C:/Program Files/nodejs/node.exe  
I am able to start the server without any error.  
any idea? thanks

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**Author:** ![tylersmalley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tylersmalley/32/8833_2.png) [@tylersmalley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tylersmalley)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146/2 "2020-05-19T21:16:21Z")

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Are you running Kibana from source? Files in `bin` are actually for the distributable and should not be used in development. For development you can just put your plugin inside the `./plugins` directory.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sudosu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sudosu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sudosu)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 9:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146/3 "2020-05-20T09:39:53Z")

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Thanks for your reply  
Actually I found out why the node executable couldn't be found.  
After looking into kibana-plugin.bat and I noticed that the line  
`set NODE=%DIR%\node\node.exe` is setting the node.exe directory to node\node.exe inside kibana project (kinda strange).  
While my node.exe was in C:/Program Files/nodejs/node.exe.  
So i just copied the node executable to node\node.exe in my kibana project and it worked. I was then able to install the plugin.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tylersmalley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tylersmalley/32/8833_2.png) [@tylersmalley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tylersmalley)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146/4 "2020-05-20T13:40:36Z")

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Again, that is not supposed to be used in development and references the node executable in the distribution.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-find-usable-node-js-executable-while-installing-plugin/233146/5 "2020-06-17T13:47:08Z")

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