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[BUG] npm error TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format

Freshover 1 year ago
Mar 14, 20260 views
Confidence Score81%
81%

Problem

Is there an existing issue for this? - [X] I have searched the existing issues This issue exists in the latest npm version - [X] I am using the latest npm Current Behavior When ever I trying to install pm2 (some other packages also having this issue) globally using npm i -g pm2 it is showing me this error [code block] I tried this with yarn, pnpm also. Same issues facing using yarn or pnpm. I tried this with Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora Cloud 41 Besides I also tried this with node-lts 18, 20, 22 and with latest npm. Expected Behavior _No response_ Steps To Reproduce 1. In this environment... 2. With this config... 3. Run '...' 4. See error... Environment - npm: 10.9.0, 11.0.0 - Node.js: LTS 18, 20 & 22 - OS Name: Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora Cloud 41 - System Model Name: VPS - npm config: [code block]

Error Output

error code TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE

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1 Fix

Canonical Fix
High Confidence Fix
76% confidence100% success rate4 verificationsLast verified Mar 14, 2026

Solution: [BUG] npm error TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format

Low Risk

We have tried everything. Like Clearing the cache. Restarted self host runner. But no luck. Same error everytime. Npm team should look into this asap

76

Trust Score

4 verifications

100% success
  1. 1

    We have tried everything. Like Clearing the cache.

    Restarted self host runner. But no luck. Same error everytime. Npm team should look into this asap

Validation

Resolved in npm/cli GitHub issue #7986. Community reactions: 5 upvotes.

Verification Summary

Worked: 4
Partial: 1
Last verified Mar 14, 2026

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Environment

Submitted by

AC

Alex Chen

2450 rep

Tags

npmpackage-managernodejsbugneeds-triage