# Installing and Upgrading Node-RED help needed

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [28 September 2026 12:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836 "2026-09-28T12:47:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [29 September 2026 11:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/21 "2026-09-29T11:32:06Z")

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Also, you said you had run `sudo apt update`, I presume your system is up to date by running  
`sudo apt full-upgrade`.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [29 September 2026 12:41 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/22 "2026-09-29T12:41:42Z")

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I think I know what is going on. The symptom you have is that apt policy nodejs shows that it has installed the armhf (32) bit version of nodejs, but uname -m says that you are running a 64 kernel. I think you have a 64 bit kernel running in 32-bit userland. You can confirm that using  
`getconf LONG_BIT`  
`dpkg --print-architecture`  
If you see  
32  
armhf  
then that is the case, and you would have to install the 64 bit version of the OS to use nodejs 24.

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**Author:** ![dceejay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dceejay/32/38_2.png) [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)\
**Post date:** [29 September 2026 21:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/23 "2026-09-29T21:52:02Z")

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> [@eddee54455](#):
>
> I would like to use to keep my system fully up to date...

And yet the base OS is now beyond end of life.  
You may be able to get away with a “manual upgrade” by editing all the /etc/apt/sources.list and all the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/\* files to point to bookworm and retrying apt upgrade but it would be almost as quick to burn a clean new OS version instead

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**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [29 September 2026 23:21 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/24 "2026-09-29T23:21:11Z")

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> [@eddee54455](#):
>
> I am not keen on doing an OS upgrade at the moment if at all possible...

The longer you leave it, the harder it gets.  
Believe me, I know!

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**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [30 September 2026 14:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/25 "2026-09-30T14:31:25Z")

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@dceejay The base OS is functioning perfectly, little to no downtime, unbroken OS uptime runs of 9 months plus are not abnormal... No need to poke the bear in this department.

As to the "manual upgrade", I am partial to giving it a go. There are quite a few neat apps that run in the background such as grafana, influx, mqtt etc that are a pita to set up again from scratch. My entire household hangs on this little pi for power and resource management so I am not keen to down it even for a very limited time to reload and reconfig everything.

If I do attempt a manual upgrade, I will use an image of the sdcard on a parallel ip address and do it on that... Once I have ironed out all the glitches, swop ip addresses and see if it hangs together...

Bear in mind that this little boxy talks to about 100+ wifi based power switches, a bank of 8 LiFe batteries, an inverter, 4 water and scavenging pumps, about 40 or so IPCams and 4x N/X/Dvr units plus quite a few other things (not to mention quite a bit of IR controlled kit as well)... a fairly scary array of sundry things in regular use that have just been so convenient to add as the years have gone past...

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**Author:** ![mudwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@mudwalker](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/mudwalker)\
**Post date:** [30 September 2026 14:35 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/26 "2026-09-30T14:35:01Z")

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If you have the resources, you could set up a 'shadow.parallel' RPi and test it before putting it into production. It would update Hardware and give you a spare should anything go wrong.

A project for the evenings as the pul//jump in.

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**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [30 September 2026 14:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/27 "2026-09-30T14:36:33Z")

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@jbudd No, the more kit you have it controlling, the more chance of messing up there is...

I have quite a few pi's running everything from laser cutter/engravers to small cnc units etc and am quite familiar with the OS loading from scratch type of thing... Doesn't scare me in the slightest...

What does freak me out is having to lift the skyscraper to replace the foundations.... Very easy for cracks to start appearing....

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**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [30 September 2026 14:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/28 "2026-09-30T14:44:42Z")

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@mudwalker yeh...might just do that...I always keep at least one spare Pi for the "home auto/house engine" plus at lease 2x rolling backups of the sdcard that is in operation... Strangely, I have had very few issues card related on the housePi... I was getting twitchy after about 4,5,6? years on the old cards, so I eventually cycled the 16gb cards out and am now running on 32gb cards... a bit of a waste as they only use about 12 or 13 gig with a years data on them...

But... Enough rambling...  
Cheerz  
E

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [30 September 2026 23:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/29 "2026-09-30T23:28:31Z")

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A new card and even a separate Pi is certainly safer overall. However, I've done many Debian in-place OS upgrades with few, if any problems. The only thing I would say is that, unlike updating node.js, node-red and nodes, I always leave an OS major upgrade at least a year. This gives time for any issues to be sorted first. Debian is also very good at providing upgrade documentation including listing any possible issues. Rasbian is derived from Debian so not quite the same but pretty close.

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [1 October 2026 06:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/30 "2026-10-01T06:26:51Z")

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> [@TotallyInformation](#):
>
> I've done many Debian in-place OS upgrades with few, if any problems

I imagine @eddee54455 probably wants to upgrade to the 64 bit version of the OS so that upgrade to nodejs 24 is an option for the future. I think that will require a new install.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 08:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/31 "2026-10-02T08:10:39Z")

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Last night managed an upgrade to Bookworm on a mirrored SDCard... (Actually tried a few times during the day, but to no avail, eventually found this walkthrough [https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-os-bullseye-to-bookworm/](https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-os-bullseye-to-bookworm/) which worked...

A prerequisite was installing an updated network manager [https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-network-manager/](https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-network-manager/) which went quite smoothly as well...

After completing the upgrade to bookworm, a lengthy process on a glacial internet link, I confirmed Bookworm active, albeit on a 32bit kernel... All Good (Not particularly worried whether its 32 or 64 bit at this stage) and ran the Node Red update script -

Including the --node24 option it went through fine but Node Red fell over during its startup, looping...

Including the --node22 option, it went through fine, installed nodejs 22.23.xx if I remember (was greater than 22.19 which is required for the TelegramBot update) and Node Red starts and runs stably...

Then tried the TelegramBot update... No go... the install routine for the telegram update still reports as nodejs 22.15 being in operation...

At least the Network Manager update was a help - I have left my "Live Pi unit" as Bullseye 32bit kernel and installed the better Network-Manager (Which easily allows setup of multiple IP addresses on a single ethernet connection - Something I have needed a couple of times in the past and is a PITA to do from the CLI)

Trying to install a 64bit kernel on the test pi resulted in me ending in a catch 22 situation... It needed a later version 64bit C compiler (If I remember correctly..03h30 took its toll) to install the kernel, but the compiler wasn't available in the 32bit framework... or something...This didn't work:

```bash
sudo apt install linux-image-rpi-v8 linux-headers-rpi-v8 -y

```

So I was stuck with only the 32bit kernel via:

```auto
bash sudo apt install linux-image-rpi-v7l linux-headers-rpi-v7l -y

```

I do surmise that the Telegram update requires the 64bit kernel and probably in real terms nodejs v24.xx.xx

That can now wait till I muster up the willpower to do a full reload and re-setup... Unless anybody can point me at another way of enabling the 64bit kernel to bring my system a bit closer to current release versions..

TIA  
Ed

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 09:23 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/32 "2026-10-02T09:23:23Z")

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The forced move of so many things to 64bit is certainly a pain for people wanting to continue to use perfectly good older kit.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 10:06 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/33 "2026-10-02T10:06:43Z")

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Yep... I see it as such a waste to toss something that's doing the job, quick enough, simple enough.... But.... if you use the new 213th version upgrade...you can do so much more...but i don't need to...yes you do... no I don't... oh but you do, you see we have added feature xyz which while you wont use it, wont allow your version to carry on working, so you do actually do need it.... At this point I usually go stick a finger into my bench grinder to distract my blood pressure medications from automatically dialing 911... Which meds I actually didn't need until I got caught in the upgrade spiral....

Lol

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 10:21 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/34 "2026-10-02T10:21:11Z")

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> [@eddee54455](#):
>
> But.... if you use the new 213th version upgrade...you can do so much more...but i don't need to...yes you do... no I don't.

If you don't need the new version of the telegraph node then you can stick with what you have.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 10:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/35 "2026-10-02T10:33:53Z")

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I'm in a position where I am pretty sure it would be beneficial to my system, but pretty sure is a guestimate...

The reliability of the node has improved dramatically over the last few updates to it... I have "taxing" internet connectivity which shows up problems with nodes using this connectivity unless the node concerned is trapping problems enthusiastically...

Every update of the Tele node so far, barring maybe one, has improved in performance and robustness over the years... Hence my keenness to update it...

Cya  
E

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 14:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/36 "2026-10-02T14:16:36Z")

</div>

So what were you referring to when you said you didn't need the 213th version upgrade?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eddee54455](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eddee54455/32/43350_2.png) [@eddee54455](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eddee54455)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 14:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/37 "2026-10-02T14:36:04Z")

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More info:

Managed to get a 64bit kernel running with 32bit userland...

Tried to upgrade to --node24 with the script, same symptom as with the 32bit kernel... Starts/fails and then repeats..

Then tried the --node22 option and it installed as follows:

```auto
Stop Node-RED ?
  Remove old version of Node-RED ?
  Remove old version of Node.js ? v22.23.3
  Install Node v22.23.3 ? v22.23.3 Npm 10.9.9
  Clean npm cache ?
  Install Node-RED core ?   
  Move global nodes to local -
  Npm rebuild existing nodes ?
  Install extra Pi nodes -
  Add shortcut commands ?

```

(note: ? above are actually green ticks)  
Also note that although script with --node24 was requested previously, it went as high as it could based on what it saw in the OS, presumably, sticking in node22...

After this, node-red is operational, but still no ability to upgrade the Telegram node:

```auto
2026-10-02T14:23:01.441Z /usr/bin/node /usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js install --no-audit --no-update-notifier --no-fund --save --save-prefix=~ --omit=dev --engine-strict -- node-red-contrib-telegrambot@19.0.3
2026-10-02T14:23:05.077Z [err] npm error code EBADENGINE
2026-10-02T14:23:05.078Z [err] npm error engine Unsupported engine
2026-10-02T14:23:05.078Z [err] npm error engine Not compatible with your version of node/npm: node-red-contrib-telegrambot@19.0.3
2026-10-02T14:23:05.080Z [err] npm error notsup Not compatible with your version of node/npm: node-red-contrib-telegrambot@19.0.3
2026-10-02T14:23:05.080Z [err] npm error notsup Required: {"node":">=22.19.0"}
2026-10-02T14:23:05.080Z [err] npm error notsup Actual: {"node":"v22.15.0","npm":"11.19.1"}
2026-10-02T14:23:05.088Z [err] npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/pi/.npm/_logs/2026-10-02T14_23_01_855Z-debug-0.log
2026-10-02T14:23:05.163Z rc=1

```

Thats all folks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 14:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/38 "2026-10-02T14:45:34Z")

</div>

What do the commands `node -v` and `which node` show?

[Edit] and  
`/usr/bin/node -v`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [2 October 2026 15:01 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836/39 "2026-10-02T15:01:42Z")

</div>

And for good measure, show us the node red log (from the start) when you start node red using  
`node-red-stop`  
`node-red-start`  
and then try to upgrade the node from the palette manager.

[Previous page](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installing-and-upgrading-node-red-help-needed/101836.md?page=1)