An error occurred when executing task 'NpmInstallAndRunBuild'

Hi everyone,
my Dev reports that his project used to work fine and when we run it as a logged-in user on the server it works ok.

having him an error message
NpmInstallAndRunBuild 14:17:46 ======================================== 14:17:46 An error occurred when executing task ‘NpmInstallAndRunBuild’. 14:17:46 Error: One or more errors occurred. 14:17:46 Npm: Could not locate executable.

full log here.
14:17:34 Running as SYSTEM
14:17:34 [EnvInject] - Loading node environment variables.
14:17:34 Building on the built-in node in workspace C:\JK\ApsWebUi
14:17:34 The recommended git tool is: NONE
14:17:34 using credential 828dc18e-3f82-4126-afbe-0c9337fb403d
14:17:34 > C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe rev-parse --resolve-git-dir C:\JK\ApsWebUi.git # timeout=10
14:17:34 Fetching changes from the remote Git repository

14:17:34 > C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe --version # timeout=10
14:17:34 > git --version # ‘git version 2.46.0.windows.1’
14:17:34 using GIT_ASKPASS to set credentials Cashplus Github

14:17:36 > C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe rev-parse “bd60476d85db164e9953f999a7f09bd06ecb9d79^{commit}” # timeout=10
14:17:36 Checking out Revision bd60476d85db164e9953f999a7f09bd06ecb9d79 (detached)
14:17:36 > C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe config core.sparsecheckout # timeout=10
14:17:36 > C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe checkout -f bd60476d85db164e9953f999a7f09bd06ecb9d79 # timeout=10
14:17:36 Commit message: “Merge pull request #1222 from cashplus-uk/bugfix/DIGI-4533”
14:17:36 First time build. Skipping changelog.
14:17:36 [ApsWebUi] $ powershell.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Users\APSSVC~1.CI\AppData\Local\Temp\jenkins17198005603342157359.ps1
14:17:37 Preparing to run build script…
14:17:38 Running build script…
14:17:38 The ‘tool’ directive is attempting to install the ‘OctopusTools’ package
14:17:38 without specifying a package version number.
14:17:38 More information on this can be found at Redirected
14:17:38 It’s not recommended, but you can explicitly override this warning
14:17:38 by configuring the Skip Package Version Check setting to true
14:17:38 (i.e. command line parameter “–settings_skippackageversioncheck=true”,
14:17:38 environment variable “CAKE_SETTINGS_SKIPPACKAGEVERSIONCHECK=true”,
14:17:38 read more about configuration at Redirected)
14:17:40 The ‘tool’ directive is attempting to install the ‘OpenCover’ package
14:17:40 without specifying a package version number.
14:17:40 More information on this can be found at Redirected
14:17:40 It’s not recommended, but you can explicitly override this warning
14:17:40 by configuring the Skip Package Version Check setting to true
14:17:40 (i.e. command line parameter “–settings_skippackageversioncheck=true”,
14:17:40 environment variable “CAKE_SETTINGS_SKIPPACKAGEVERSIONCHECK=true”,
14:17:40 read more about configuration at Redirected)
14:17:40 The ‘tool’ directive is attempting to install the ‘vswhere’ package
14:17:40 without specifying a package version number.
14:17:40 More information on this can be found at Redirected
14:17:40 It’s not recommended, but you can explicitly override this warning
14:17:40 by configuring the Skip Package Version Check setting to true
14:17:40 (i.e. command line parameter “–settings_skippackageversioncheck=true”,
14:17:40 environment variable “CAKE_SETTINGS_SKIPPACKAGEVERSIONCHECK=true”,
14:17:40 read more about configuration at Redirected)
14:17:44
14:17:44 ========================================
14:17:44 CheckVersion
14:17:44 ========================================
14:17:44
14:17:44 ========================================
14:17:44 CreateFolders
14:17:44 ========================================
14:17:44 Creating folders for test results and reports
14:17:44
14:17:44 ========================================
14:17:44 Restore
14:17:44 ========================================
14:17:44 NuGet restoring.\Main\APS.Web.UI.sln
14:17:45 MSBuild auto-detection: using msbuild version ‘16.11.2.50704’ from ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\MSBuild\Current\bin’.
14:17:46 All packages listed in packages.config are already installed.
14:17:46
14:17:46 ========================================
14:17:46 SetVersion
14:17:46 ========================================
14:17:46 Updating .\Main\Host\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs to version 4.0.62
14:17:46
14:17:46 ========================================
14:17:46 NpmInstallAndRunBuild
14:17:46 ========================================
14:17:46 An error occurred when executing task ‘NpmInstallAndRunBuild’.
14:17:46 Error: One or more errors occurred.
14:17:46 Npm: Could not locate executable.
14:17:46 Build step ‘PowerShell’ marked build as failure
14:17:46 [htmlpublisher] Archiving HTML reports…
14:17:46 [htmlpublisher] Archiving at BUILD level C:\JK\ApsWebUi\Build\reports\OpenCoverReport to C:\Program Files (x86)\Jenkins\jobs\Digital\jobs\Web.UI\jobs\develop\builds\62\htmlreports\OpenCover_20Report
14:17:46 [htmlpublisher] Copying recursive using current thread
14:17:47 INFO: Processing MSTest-Version N/A (default)
14:17:47 INFO: [MSTest-Version N/A (default)] - 1 test report file(s) were found with the pattern ‘\Build\testresults*.trx’ relative to ‘C:\JK\ApsWebUi’ for the testing framework ‘MSTest-Version N/A (default)’.
14:17:47 ERROR: Step ‘Publish xUnit test result report’ failed: Test reports were found but not all of them are new. Did all the tests run?
14:17:47 * C:\JK\ApsWebUi\Build\testresults\TestResults.trx is 6 days 21 hr old
14:17:47
14:17:47 Finished: FAILURE

problem solved. just rebooted the server