Windows 11: Exception during run: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'pactffiInitWithLogLevel')

[vlevkoniuk]

Software versions

Please provide at least OS and version of pact-js

• OS: Windows 11 Pro (latest)
• Pact Node version: "@pact-foundation/pact": "^14.0.0",
• Node Version: 22

Issue Checklist

Please confirm the following:

• I have upgraded to the latest
• I have the read the FAQs in the Readme
• I have triple checked, that there are no unhandled promises in my code
• I have set my log level to debug and attached a log file showing the complete request/response cycle
• For bonus points and virtual high fives, I have created a reproduceable git repository (see below) to illustrate the problem

Expected behaviour

Windows 11 should support pact tests like the Windows 10 does

Actual behaviour

Exception during run: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'pactffiInitWithLogLevel')

Steps to reproduce

On a Windows 11 machine install @pact-foundation/pact": "^14.0.0", and write some test that has

const provider = new PactV3({
        consumer: 'consumer-v3',
        provider: 'provider-v3'
    });

The execution will fail before mocha (test framework begin to lunch test)

> cross-env LOG_LEVEL=trace CI=true mocha

Debugger attached.
Debugger attached.
[21:34:49.288] DEBUG (5052): pact-core@16.0.0: We detected your platform as: 

 - win32-x64

 Exception during run: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'pactffiInitWithLogLevel')
    at getFfiLib (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\@pact-foundation\pact-core\src\ffi\index.ts:188:14)
    at makeConsumerPact (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\@pact-foundation\pact-core\src\consumer\index.ts:71:24)
    at PactV3.PactV3.setup (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\@pact-foundation\src\v3\pact.ts:250:33)
    at new PactV3 (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\@pact-foundation\src\v3\pact.ts:49:10)
    at Suite.<anonymous> (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\tests\image-service-pact-v3.spec.ts:9:22)
    at Object.create (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\interfaces\common.js:148:19)
    at context.describe.context.context (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\interfaces\bdd.js:42:27)
    at <anonymous> (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\tests\image-service-pact-v3.spec.ts:6:1)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\tests\image-service-pact-v3.spec.ts:87:2)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1554:14)
    at Object.transformer (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\tsx\dist\register-DCnOAxY2.cjs:2:1186)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1289:32)
    at Function._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1108:12)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:220:24)
    at cjsLoader (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:262:5)
    at ModuleWrap.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:196:7)
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:271:25)
    at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:578:26)
    at async formattedImport (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\nodejs\esm-utils.js:9:14)
    at async exports.requireOrImport (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\nodejs\esm-utils.js:42:28)
    at async exports.loadFilesAsync (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\nodejs\esm-utils.js:100:20)
    at async singleRun (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\run-helpers.js:162:3)
    at async exports.handler (C:\Users\vlevkoniuk\sources\QA-AUTOMATION-TYPESCRIPT-1\lesson13-contract-testing\node_modules\mocha\lib\cli\run.js:375:5)

[YOU54F]

Pact-JS does work on windows 11 machines ( I have two that I use at home for developing both pact-js-core and testing), so there is some other issue here

[mefellows]

Any chance you could please create a repro? Perhaps forking https://github.com/mefellows/pact-js-repro-template (it might be a little out of date now, but should be easy to update) and sharing your forked project that demonstrates the issue?

[vlevkoniuk]

OK, so I found the problem

After you said that you have it working on your Windows OSs I started to think what is the difference between my Windows 10 where everything working fine and Windows 11 envs. The difference is that on Windows 10 a long time ago I was using Node.js installed from installer before switching to NVM, on windows 11 I am using just nvm.

The problem is that I used nvm to install Node.js. As a result, I have not installed dependencies that are automatically installed after nodejs installation using an installer downloaded from the official site.

So probably dependencies are like python visualstudio2022-workload-vctools as it is said in node-gyp instructions, but node-gyp is required for pact version lower then 11?

So maybe it would be a good time to update installation instructions for those who are using NVM or other node version manager tools? I mean what dependencies, because nodejs post-install script downloads and installs a lot of staff

PS
using WSL installed nodejs by nvm and it is working fine there
So the issue is only using nvm on Windows

[YOU54F]

re: https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-js/blob/master/docs/troubleshooting.md#installation-failing-missing-python-c-or-build-tools

So probably dependencies are like python visualstudio2022-workload-vctools as it is said in node-gyp instructions, but node-gyp is required for pact version lower then 11?

v10-v11 require node-gyp for the build process.

v12 + prebuilds dependencies so removes this requirement

v9 and below never had this requirement in the first place

I use a combo of nvm / nvs on macos, nvm on windows with no issues.

I previously had nvm 1.1.0 with node 16 installed on my laptop directly from the gh releases executable

https://github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows

however I have re-tried with latest nvm installed via choco and node 22.14.0 and all good. (windows 11 pro 23H2)

using this repo

https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-workshop-js/blob/22d6e16619a5b3db1dc4d0dacb7b1333493aed97/consumer/package.json#L17

updated pact to v14 and pact-cli to 16.0.5

npm install / npm test - ✅

[vlevkoniuk]

are you sure that you Windows machine had no nodejs installation before?

I am using clean windows with just VS code installed and nvm with node v22 and the problem happened
After installing nodejs and it post-install scripts and then removing nodejs - everything works OK

[YOU54F]

I tried again in a clean Win11 VM (ARM64 on MacOS M1)

Had the same issue as yourself with nvm and nvs due to them not bundling the additional support packages.

• 2022-11-01: Bundle of support programs and windows patches for native module compilation coreybutler/nvm-windows#875
• Native module installation on Windows? jasongin/nvs#206

You are correct that the official nodejs installer for windows supports the additional options

Following the link shown takes us to

https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp?tab=readme-ov-file#on-windows

Where we can see the instruction (to be run in a powershell session with admin priviledges)

choco install python visualstudio2022-workload-vctools -y

Now I will note that this didn't install cleanly

WARNING: Errors/warnings from the Visual Studio Installer log file C:\Users\yousaf.nabi\AppData\Local\Temp\chocolatey\dd_installer_20250304162921.log:
WARNING: [1b70:000a][2025-03-04T16:29:31] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:0017][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:000a][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: The operation was canceled.
WARNING: [1b70:000a][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:0020][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Failed to get the HttpWebResponse while invoking a HEAD request against https://aka.ms/vs/channels:System.OperationCanceledException: The operation was canceled.
WARNING: [1b70:001f][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Failed to download channels file from https://aka.ms/vs/channels: A task was canceled.
WARNING: [1b70:0022][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Failed to get the HttpWebResponse while invoking a HEAD request against https://aka.ms/vs/installer/latest/feed:System.OperationCanceledException: The operation was canceled.
WARNING: [1b70:0023][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Failed to update the latest installer feed A task was canceled.
WARNING: [1b70:0023][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:0003][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:38] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:001e][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Error 0x80131500: Failed to deserialize instance state: An instance of the product cannot be loaded. You can uninstall the product, or visit https://aka.ms/vs/cleanup for more help with this issue.
WARNING: [1b70:001e][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Error 0x80004003: Failed to read instance dbcaff20
WARNING: [1b70:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:001e][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Warning: Shutting down the application with exit code 1618
WARNING: [1b70:001e][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Warning: Pre-check verification failed with warning(s) :  AnotherInstallationRunning,ArmMachineCheck.
WARNING: [1b70:0001][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [1b70:0001][2025-03-04T16:29:57] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: Errors/warnings from the Visual Studio Installer log file C:\Users\yousaf.nabi\AppData\Local\Temp\chocolatey\dd_installer_elevated_20250304162939.log:
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:45] Warning: Cannot set layout uri to null.
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:51] Warning: Scheduling without hotload: No hotloadable VSIX packages were present in the plan
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:52] Warning: Pre-check verification: Your machine is busy installing a program other than Visual Studio.
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:52] Warning: Pre-check verification: Installing Visual Studio on an ARM-powered device is not supported. If you continue, Visual Studio might be slow or unusable. For the best experience with ARM-based devices, we recommend remote targeting. For more information, please review our documentation for [Visual Studio on ARM-powered devices](https://aka.ms/vs/arm).
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Error: Pre-check verification failed with warning(s) :  AnotherInstallationRunning,ArmMachineCheck.
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Error 0x652: Pre-check verification failed with warning(s) :  AnotherInstallationRunning,ArmMachineCheck.
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Error 0x652: Engine threw an exception that is not being rethrown: Pre-check verification failed with warning(s) :  AnotherInstallationRunning,ArmMachineCheck.
WARNING: [06f4:0001][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: [06f4:0001][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Warning: Didn't find any channel feed.
WARNING: Content of Visual Studio Installer error log file C:\Users\yousaf.nabi\AppData\Local\Temp\chocolatey\dd_setup_20250304162945_errors.log:
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Pre-check verification failed with warning(s) :  AnotherInstallationRunning,ArmMachineCheck.
WARNING: [06f4:0005][2025-03-04T16:29:56] Error 0x652: Pre-check verification failed with warning(s) :  AnotherInstallationRunning,ArmMachineCheck.
WARNING:    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Setup.PrecheckManager.RunPrechecks(PrecheckParameters precheckParameters, VariableCollection properties)
WARNING:    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Setup.Engine.RunPrecheck(String destination, Product product, ExecuteAction action, IWindowsRestartManager rmService, ITelemetryOperation installOperation, InstallOperation install)
WARNING:    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Setup.Engine.Install(Product product, String destination, CancellationToken token)

Here are the installed packages

Installed:
 - chocolatey-compatibility.extension v1.0.0
 - chocolatey-core.extension v1.4.0
 - chocolatey-dotnetfx.extension v1.0.1
 - chocolatey-visualstudio.extension v1.11.1
 - chocolatey-windowsupdate.extension v1.0.5
 - dotnetfx v4.8.0.20220524
 - KB2919355 v1.0.20160915
 - KB2919442 v1.0.20160915
 - KB2999226 v1.0.20181019
 - KB3033929 v1.0.5
 - KB3035131 v1.0.3
 - python v3.13.1
 - python3 v3.13.1
 - python313 v3.13.1
 - vcredist140 v14.42.34438.20250221
 - vcredist2015 v14.0.24215.20170201
 - visualstudio-installer v2.0.3

However I was able to successfully execute the pact tests after this

PS C:\Users\yousaf.nabi\dev\pact-workshop-js-master\pact-workshop-js-master\consumer> npm test

> consumer@0.1.0 test
> cross-env CI=true react-scripts test

 PASS  src/api.spec.js
2025-03-04T16:31:15.270533Z  WARN ThreadId(02) pact_models::pact: Note: Existing pact is an older specification version (V2), and will be upgraded
 PASS  src/api.pact.spec.js
2025-03-04T16:31:15.378593Z  WARN ThreadId(02) pact_models::pact: Note: Existing pact is an older specification version (V2), and will be upgraded
2025-03-04T16:31:15.410057Z  WARN ThreadId(02) pact_models::pact: Note: Existing pact is an older specification version (V2), and will be upgraded
2025-03-04T16:31:15.447694Z  WARN ThreadId(02) pact_models::pact: Note: Existing pact is an older specification version (V2), and will be upgraded
2025-03-04T16:31:15.468417Z  WARN ThreadId(02) pact_models::pact: Note: Existing pact is an older specification version (V2), and will be upgraded

Test Suites: 2 passed, 2 total
Tests:       8 passed, 8 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        4.637 s
Ran all test suites.
PS C:\Users\yousaf.nabi\dev\pact-workshop-js-master\pact-workshop-js-master\consumer>

Where previously I would see the same as your initial issue.

Therefore I think its prudent to update the documents to state that windows users using the official nodejs package will need to tick that option, and other uses with nvs/nvm/volta or a direct install of node-js will require these support packages noted in https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp?tab=readme-ov-file#on-windows, on a bare install.

Thanks for raising and helping reduce the size of the haystack!