I'm opening this issue because:

• npm is crashing.
• npm is producing an incorrect install.
• npm is doing something I don't understand.
• npm is producing incorrect or undesirable behavior.
• Other (see below for feature requests):

What's going wrong?

Failed at the npm@6.2.0-next.0 postinstall script.
This leaves a broken npm install. I'll need to install it via the node installer and upgrade now, I think.

How can the CLI team reproduce the problem?

Attempt to run npm i -g npm@6.2.0-next.0 on a Windows 7 64-bit machine.

https://gist.github.com/simonua/be475b58b14967c5cfc3ca78bd97988a

supporting information:

• npm -v prints: Fails as the installation is broken but previous version was 6.1.0
• node -v prints: v10.5.0
• npm config get registry prints: Fails as the installation is broken
• Windows, OS X/macOS, or Linux?: Windows 7 64-bit
• Network issues:
  • Geographic location where npm was run:
  • I use a proxy to connect to the npm registry.
  • I use a proxy to connect to the web.
  • I use a proxy when downloading Git repos.
  • I access the npm registry via a VPN
  • I don't use a proxy, but have limited or unreliable internet access.
• Container:
  • I develop using Vagrant on Windows.
  • I develop using Vagrant on OS X or Linux.
  • I develop / deploy using Docker.
  • I deploy to a PaaS (Triton, Heroku).