Unable to run "gulp serve" for our SPFx web part "This tool requires a version of NodeJS that matches" & "ReferenceError: primordials is not defined"

Software Development
#1

I have developed an SPFx web part, and now i am trying to run gulp serve … but i am getting these errors. Now i have 2 versions of node.js :-

C:\WINDOWS\system32>nvm list

  * 16.13.0 (Currently using 64-bit executable)
    8.16.2

Here are the errors:-

Your environment has been set up for using Node.js 16.13.0 (x64) and npm.

C:\Windows\System32>nvm use 8.16.2
Now using node v8.16.2 (64-bit)

C:\Windows\System32>cd C:\spfx-MyModalPopup

C:\spfx-MyModalPopup>gulp serve
Error: Your dev environment is running NodeJS version v8.16.2 which does not meet the requirements for running this tool. This tool requires a version of NodeJS that matches >=10.13.0 <11.0.0 || >=12.13.0 <13.0.0 || >=14.15.0 <15.0.0
    at SPWebBuildRig.initialize (C:\spfx-MyModalPopup\node_modules\@microsoft\sp-build-web\lib\SPBuildRig.js:27:19)
    at Object.exports.initialize (C:\spfx-MyModalPopup\node_modules\@microsoft\sp-build-web\lib\index.js:32:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\spfx-MyModalPopup\gulpfile.js:16:7)
    at Module._compile (module.js:653:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:664:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:566:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:506:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:498:3)
    at Module.require (module.js:597:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:11:18)

C:\spfx-MyModalPopup>nvm list

    16.13.0
  * 8.16.2 (Currently using 64-bit executable)

C:\spfx-MyModalPopup>nvm use 16.13.0
Now using node v16.13.0 (64-bit)

C:\spfx-MyModalPopup>gulp serve
ReferenceError: primordials is not defined
    at fs.js:47:5
    at req_ (C:\spfx-MyModalPopup\node_modules\natives\index.js:143:24)
    at Object.req [as require] (C:\spfx-MyModalPopup\node_modules\natives\index.js:55:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\spfx-MyModalPopup\node_modules\vinyl-fs\node_modules\graceful-fs\fs.js:1:37)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1101:14)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1153:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:981:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:822:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1005:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)

any advice why i am unable to run gulp serve to run my SPFx web part? Thanks

here are the node.js & gulp versions i have:-

C:\spfx-MyModalPopup>gulp --version
CLI version: 2.3.0
Local version: 3.9.1


C:\spfx-MyModalPopup>node --version
v16.13.0
#2

Since you have two versions installed you can try resetting the shell after setting the version. If that does not work, set the absolute path or check your path variable.