Installing libraries with node-gyp and NodeJS 4.1+ on Windows 8+

I have noticed that some node modules come down and compile on Windows. These may be because they detect a compiler environment or because as part of their install they need to be compiled with native libraries. Either way, inevitably you may run into node-gyp trying to compile. Assuming you have the correct tool chain (see the [node-gyp github site](https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp)) you may still get an error during compile that looks like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V120\Microsoft.Cpp.Platform.targets(64,5): error MSB8020: The build tools for Visual Studio 2012 (Platform To
olset = 'v110') cannot be found. To build using the v110 build tools, please install Visual Studio 2012 build tools. Alternatively, you may upgrade to the cur
rent Visual Studio tools by selecting the Project menu or right-click the solution, and then selecting "Upgrade Solution...". [D:\aurelia-binding-issue-178\nod
e_modules\browser-sync\node_modules\socket.io\node_modules\engine.io\node_modules\ws\node_modules\utf-8-validate\build\validation.vcxproj]
gyp ERR! build error
gyp ERR! stack Error: `C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin\msbuild.exe` failed with exit code: 1
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.onExit (D:\Java\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\build.js:270:23)
gyp ERR! stack at emitTwo (events.js:87:13)
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:172:7)
gyp ERR! stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:200:12)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 6.3.9600
gyp ERR! command "D:\\java\\nodejs\\node.exe" "D:\\Java\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd D:\aurelia-binding-issue-178\node_modules\browser-sync\node_modules\socket.io\node_modules\engine.io\node_modules\ws\node_modules\utf-8-validate
gyp ERR! node -v v4.1.1
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.0.3
gyp ERR! not ok

This is indicating simply that it can not find the 2012 build tools. However installing these tools will not help. Why? Because Node 4.1.1 is compiled to 2013 spec. Therefore you need to pass the following flag to npm install such that it knows to use the 2013 version.... --msvs_version=2013

This will now result in you having to always run install with the following syntax npm install --msvs_version=2013

Update