When I install protractor I get this error:
C:\Users\andreir\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\node_modules\ws\node_modules\utf-8-validate>node "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin\\..\..\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" rebuild
Building the projects in this solution one at a time. To enable parallel build, please add the "/m" switch.
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\Microsoft.Cpp.InvalidPlatform.Targets(23,7): error MSB8007: The Platform for project 'validation.vcxproj' is invalid. Platform='x64'. You may be seeing this message because you are trying to build a project without a solution file, and have specified a non-default Platform that doesn't exist for this project. [C:\Users\andreir\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\node_modules\ws\node_modules\utf-8-validate\build\validation.vcxproj]
gyp ERR! build error
gyp ERR! stack Error: `C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe` failed with exit code: 1
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.onExit (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\build.js:267:23)
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:98:17)
gyp ERR! stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:820:12)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 6.2.9200
gyp ERR! command "node" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\andreir\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\node_modules\ws\node_modules\utf-8-validate
gyp ERR! node -v v0.10.38
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v1.0.1
gyp ERR! not ok
I don't understand where the erorr is...
I have (relevant): Windows 8.1 pro x64, Python 2.7.10, VS 2012 Pro
The issue, as the error is saying, is due to the compilation of utf-8-validate module required by WebSocket required by selenium-webdriver
node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\node_modules\ws\node_modules\utf-8-validate
the compiler is failing to find a project configuration for x64
The Platform for project 'validation.vcxproj' is invalid. Platform='x64'
In this Github Issue the solution was reinstalling VisualStudio and Windows SDK.
Anyway this is an optional dependency so you can do without it, while you figure it out, running
npm install --no-optional