# Error from "npm install -g appium" - appium.js symlink target is not controlled by npm /usr/local

**URL:** <https://discuss.appium.io/t/error-from-npm-install-g-appium-appium-js-symlink-target-is-not-controlled-by-npm-usr-local/10646>\
**Category:** Issues/Bugs\
**Created:** [June 9, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://discuss.appium.io/t/error-from-npm-install-g-appium-appium-js-symlink-target-is-not-controlled-by-npm-usr-local/10646 "2016-06-09T19:47:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mayu\_Kataoka](https://discuss.appium.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Mayu\_Kataoka](https://discuss.appium.io/u/Mayu_Kataoka)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://discuss.appium.io/t/error-from-npm-install-g-appium-appium-js-symlink-target-is-not-controlled-by-npm-usr-local/10646/1 "2016-06-09T19:47:34Z")

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I am trying to upgrade Appium today and am unable to do so via “npm install -g appium” due to the following error. Could someone please help ?

$ npm install -g appium

/usr/local/bin/authorize-ios -\> /usr/local/lib/node\_modules/appium/node\_modules/.bin/authorize-ios  
/usr/local/lib  
└── (empty)

npm ERR! Darwin 15.5.0  
npm ERR! argv “/usr/local/bin/node” “/usr/local/bin/npm” “install” “-g” “appium”  
npm ERR! node v4.4.4  
npm ERR! npm v3.9.0  
npm ERR! path /usr/local/bin/appium  
npm ERR! code EEXIST

npm ERR! Refusing to delete /usr/local/bin/appium: …/lib/node\_modules/appium/bin/appium.js symlink target is not controlled by npm /usr/local  
npm ERR! File exists: /usr/local/bin/appium  
npm ERR! Move it away, and try again.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:  
npm ERR! /Users/mayukataoka/npm-debug.log  
npm ERR! code 1

* * *

$ ls -lah /usr/local/bin/appium  
lrwxr-xr-x 1 mayukataoka admin 40B May 29 2015 /usr/local/bin/appium -\> …/lib/node\_modules/appium/bin/appium.js

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mayu\_Kataoka](https://discuss.appium.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Mayu\_Kataoka](https://discuss.appium.io/u/Mayu_Kataoka)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://discuss.appium.io/t/error-from-npm-install-g-appium-appium-js-symlink-target-is-not-controlled-by-npm-usr-local/10646/2 "2016-06-09T20:21:24Z")

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Fixed by removing /usr/local/bin/appium and resinstalling it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ether\_joe](https://discuss.appium.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@ether\_joe](https://discuss.appium.io/u/ether_joe)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://discuss.appium.io/t/error-from-npm-install-g-appium-appium-js-symlink-target-is-not-controlled-by-npm-usr-local/10646/3 "2016-08-10T18:16:12Z")

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Thanks Mayu for your post – I had the same problem. I did a node uninstall and reinstall of appium but still saw the problem. When I removed the appium bin from my .linuxbrew/bin directory manually, the installation succeeded.

Appium on Linux is not quite as smooth as osx, but looks like it’s working now. Thanks for your post!