NPM Install (Windows) throws .SLN errors...?

Question

I'm working with Node.js (and a couple other node modules) and I've come across this problem in multiple different projects now...

With a lot (not all, but many) of node modules, when I try to install a module I get a similar error to this:

C:\...\.node-gyp\0.8.16\deps\uv\include\uv.h(55): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'stdint.h': No such file or directory [C:\...\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\soap\node_modules\node-expat\build\binding.sln]

Project : warning PRJ0018: The following environment variables were not found: [C:\...\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\soap\node_modules\node-expat\build\binding.sln]

With more than coincidental frequency, Node-Gyp seems to have something to do with it, I think... However I can't find anything suggesting what exactly would cause this.

I'm running:

-Node 0.8.x (Which I need for one of our custom modules),
-NPM 1.1.69
-Windows 7 x86

Examples of which modules I'm trying to use:

-npm install soap
-npm install nodetime

Answer 1

Stumbled upon the reason. For Node-gyp to install properly on a Windows machine, you need Visual Studio C++ 2010 (Express or full suite). At a glance, I assumed this meant the MS C++ Redistributable packages, not the IDE.

I have VS2008 installed, but 2010 is the minimum requirement. Hope this helps saves someone else from a headache or two in the future, though!