Image from nodejsblog.com NPM packages can be installed locally under your home directory. With local installation you won't get error permissions while youre trying to install global npm packages. Let's make your computer can run "npm install -g" without root access. First, create npm packages directory mkdir -p ~/.npm-packages Add NPM_PACKAGES variable on your .bashrc file echo NPM_PACKAGES="${HOME}/.npm-packages" >> ${HOME}/.bashrc Add prefix to your npm configuration echo prefix=${HOME}/.npm-packages >> ${HOME}/.npmrc Install latest npm curl -L https://www.npmjs.org/install.sh | sh Add NODE_PATH variable to your .bashrc file echo NODE_PATH=\"\$NPM_PACKAGES/lib/node_modules\:\$NODE_PATH\" >> ${HOME}/.bashrc Update PATH variable echo PATH=\"\$NPM_PACKAGES/bin\:\$PATH\" >> ${HOME}/.bashrc Reload your environment variable source ~/.bashrc Now you can install global npm package...