How to Install Node.js using FNM on Windows 11 PowerShell

Windows 11 now ships with the winget package manager. You can access winget from Windows Terminal. You can use winget to install packages such as FNM (Fast Node Manager) Node.js package manager on Windows.

Installing FNM Node.js Package Manager on Windows 11

To install the FNM Node.js package manager using winget, open Windows Terminal and run the following command:

PS> winget install Schniz.fnm

FNM should be installed.

To check if FNM is installed, close Windows Terminal, open Windows Terminal, and run the following command:

PS> fnm --version

Adding FNM to Windows 11 PATH using PowerShell Profile

This step is very important. If you try to install any version of Node.js before adding FNM to Windows 11 PATH, you won’t be able to access it.
You will see the following error when you try to access it Node.js installed using FNM.

 PS> node -v
node : The term 'node' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check
the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ node -v
+ ~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (node:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

To add FNM to Windows 11 PATH, create a PowerShell profile file with the following command:

PS> if (-not (Test-Path $profile)) { New-Item $profile -Force }

Open the newly created PowerShell profile file with Notepad as follows:

PS> Invoke-Item $profile

Add the following line at the end of the PowerShell profile file and save it.

fnm env --use-on-cd | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

For the changes to take effect, close Windows Terminal and open it again.

Listing Available FNM Node.js Versions

To list all the available Node.js versions you can install through FNM, run the following command:

PS> fnm ls-remote

To list only the available LTS Node.js versions, run the following command:

PS> fnm ls-remote --lts

To list the latest version of Node.js you can install through FNM, run the following command:

PS> fnm ls-remote --latest

To list the latest LTS version of Node.js you can install through FNM, run the following command:

PS> fnm ls-remote --latest --lts

Install a Specific Node.js Version using FNM on Windows 11

To install the latest version of Node.js using FNM on Windows 11, run the following command:

PS> fnm install --latest

To install the latest LTS version of Node.js using FNM on Windows 11, run the following command:

PS> fnm install --lts

To install a specific version of Node.js using FNM on Windows 11, run the following command:

PS> fnm install <version>

If you’ve installed only a single version of Node.js through FNM, you can access it as follows:

PS> node --version

Using a Different Node.js Version using FNM

To list all the installed Node.js versions, run the following command:

PS> fnm list

As you can see, I have Node.js v22.14.0 and v23.10.0 installed on my system through FNM. Here, v22.14.0 is the default Node.js version.

To use Node.js version v23.10.0, run the following command:

PS> fnm use v23.10.0

Now, you should be able to access Node.js v23.10.0.

Setting a Node.js Version as Default using FNM

To set v23.10.0 as the default Node.js version, run the following command:

PS> fnm default v23.10.0

Close Windows Terminal and open it again and you should see that Node.js v23.10.0 is set as the default Node.js version.

PS> node --version

Installing PNPM Node.js Package Manager on Windows 11

NPM is the default package manager of Node.js. It comes preinstalled with Node.js. So, you don’t have to install it manually.

There are other Node.js package managers (i.e. Yarn, PNPM). You can easily install the PNPM package manager on Windows 11 using the following command:

PS> corepack enable pnpm

Once PNPM is installed, you can confirm it with the following command:

PS> pnpm --version