nvm windows installation of node getting stuck on "Extracting..."

Question

I installed the latest nvm Windows cli tool; and when I try to run nvm install lts it shows "Downloading..." then "Extracting..." and freezes there. Never errors, but never moves on, either. If I kill the process and do nvm list, it lists 16.15.0. But if I say nvm use 16.15.0, or nvm uninstall 16.15.0, it says it isn't installed.

I've tried uninstalling nvm and starting over from scratch; same result every time. How do I get past 'Extracting'?

Answer 1

Ok this was a bizarre problem and solution.

Looks like my (work) laptop had previously had win-zip or 7-zip installed, but when it was uninstalled, it didn't re-associate zip files with Windows Explorer.

That meant that the option to click Extract All on a zip file, even manually, was grayed out/disabled. I followed the instructions here: to re-associate .zip files with Windows Explorer:

START menu > Settings (the cog) > Apps > Default Apps. Scroll to the bottom of that list and look for "Choose default apps by file type". Then scroll down that until you find ".ZIP" make sure the default is selected to "Windows Explorer".