Installation freezing at tool selection

[fredcanfly]

Describe the bug
I am trying to install either v4 or v6 and I am having the same issue described here with the v4 version. v6 gets to the tool selection and then freezes (where you select Claude Code, etc).

Steps to Reproduce
EITHER:

Open Windows Powershell (tried both in admin and non-admin),
npx bmad-method@alpha install,
input installation directory,
Get to "Select tools to configure: " screen, cannot select tools, space does nothing, "a" does nothing, enter does nothing, ctrl+c does nothing.

OR

Open Windows Powershell (tried both in admin and non-admin),
npx bmad-method install,
input installation directory
Get to input Bmad username, cannot type, cannot ctrl+c to close, nothing seems to work.

PR
None

Expected behavior
Expected to be able to continue forward with installation, either by selecting tools or inputting a username (depending on version - I am really interested in v6, but I figured that me having this issue with v4 as well says something).

Please be Specific if relevant

BMad Method version: v4 or v6

Screenshots or Links
None

Additional context
I am on Windows 11 Home 25H2 26200.7462, Node v22.21.1, npm 10.9.4. I also tried Node v24.12.0, when that didn't work, I did the downgrade to 22.

[mikelandl4gl]

Can confirm. Seeing this issue as well with v6.

[jakubvedral]

same issue

[cccczl]

同样问题

[PhunkyBob]

So do I.
Windows 11 Pro, "cmd" and "cmdr" terminal.

[mylesdebastion]

Workaround for Issue #1149 - Installer Freezing

Problem: The current version of bmad (alpha.18) has installer issues where it freezes at tool selection on
Windows.

Solution: Roll back to v6.0.0-alpha.15 (December 7, 2024) which is before the problematic installer changes.

Steps:

1. Clone or navigate to your local BMAD-METHOD repository i.e:
   cd D:\Github\BMAD-METHOD

2. Check your current branch and status:
   git status

3. Roll back to the last stable version:
   git reset --hard v6.0.0-alpha.15

4. Install dependencies:
   npm install

5. Run the installer locally:
   node tools/cli/bmad-cli.js install

6. When prompted, enter your desired installation directory.

Why this works:

• v6.0.0-alpha.15 is from December 7, 2024
• The installer changes that caused the freezing issue were made December 14-18, 2024
• This version predates the problematic changes and has a working installer

Note:

Using npx bmad-method pulls from npm (the broken version). You must use the local version with node
tools/cli/bmad-cli.js install to avoid the issue.

[juv85]

Issue confirmed on Windows 11 home as well. Using

• Git Bash
• Command Prompt

[fredcanfly]

Workaround for Issue #1149 - Installer Freezing

Problem: The current version of bmad (alpha.18) has installer issues where it freezes at tool selection on Windows.

Solution: Roll back to v6.0.0-alpha.15 (December 7, 2024) which is before the problematic installer changes.

Steps:

1. Clone or navigate to your local BMAD-METHOD repository i.e:
   cd D:\Github\BMAD-METHOD

2. Check your current branch and status:
   git status

3. Roll back to the last stable version:
   git reset --hard v6.0.0-alpha.15

4. Install dependencies:
   npm install

5. Run the installer locally:
   node tools/cli/bmad-cli.js install

6. When prompted, enter your desired installation directory.

Why this works:

* v6.0.0-alpha.15 is from December 7, 2024

* The installer changes that caused the freezing issue were made December 14-18, 2024

* This version predates the problematic changes and has a working installer

Note:

Using npx bmad-method pulls from npm (the broken version). You must use the local version with node tools/cli/bmad-cli.js install to avoid the issue.

Just tried workaround method. I want to reiterate that v4 also freezes during install. This method also freezes at selection of the root folder for BMAD installation question. I'm not sure that the issue is with a change to the BMAD installer, but possibly something with a Windows update breaking a working method, since I have now tried 3 versions of BMAD and all freeze. I will try again after I do a rollback on the most recent updates to see if I am able to install then.

[fredcanfly]

I have tried 3 rollbacks (all the way back to October), with all three installation methods freezing on each rollback. I have not tried to install BMAD on this PC before, so I thought maybe it doesn't like something in my hardware.

I removed all unnecessary hardware to make sure of minimal conflicts, leaving my machine at these specs:
AsRock B650M Pro RS WiFi
Ryzen 7600x
Silicon Power 64 GB 6000MHz RAM
Kingston 1TB NVME
ASUS TUF RTX 3080 GAMING OC 12 GB

This did not bear any fruit, with each installation behaving exactly as before. I did successfully install the latest v6 version of BMAD on my Windows 11 laptop. I'm not sure where the conflict could be. Here's the specs on that one:
HP OmniBook 5
Ryzen AI 7 350
16 GB RAM (I cannot find anything on manufacturer)
512 GB NVME (Same, no manufacturer detail)
Integrated graphics

I hope this helps troubleshooting. Please feel free to let me know if you want any more info or if you need me to try anything. Thank you!

[calrissian13]

Same issue here with my Windows 10 computer (tried it with latest git bash and Windows command line). It's freezing at tool selection.
In the past, I already have installed BMAD 4.x und 6.x successfully on this machine. Strange and very annoying. :-(

edit: I then tried to use my Mac for installing BMAD (repo is on my NAS) and it worked fine! After the installation I could then use BMad with my Windows 10 computer again. (only the BMad installer is affected by this issue.)

[fredcanfly]

Yet another update here. I deleted BMAD from my laptop, and now it is giving me the same issue when trying to reinstall it. Is it possible that there's some residual file or registry something going on? Any ideas where I might look, or a file or setting that could cause this?

[jerryagenyi]

I also had the same issue when I was trying to patch my installation. However, I noticed that when the freeze happens, I hit ENTER once, then it starts responding.

I stumbled on this by accident. But be careful not to hit it twice, else you might select what you don't intend to. Hit ENTER once, then try selecting with the arrows.

I m on Windows 11. Confirmed this hack inside Cursor Terminal and PowerShell too.

[IuriGuerreiro]

If you have WSL activated, you can also install using it, i had opened the issue #1169 but i didn't saw this one. In WSL i didnt need to make any workarrounds.

[fredcanfly]

I also had the same issue when I was trying to patch my installation. However, I noticed that when the freeze happens, I hit ENTER once, then it starts responding.

I stumbled on this by accident. But be careful not to hit it twice, else you might select what you don't intend to. Hit ENTER once, then try selecting with the arrows.

I m on Windows 11. Confirmed this hack inside Cursor Terminal and PowerShell too.

Testing this method of hitting enter did not work for me the first time around. I managed to get v4 working on my laptop, and then decided to run the upgrade script. I got an error during the initial process (before being able to choose anything) telling me that it could not find the module, "commander". I ran an "npm install commander" and then the upgrade script again. This time, I got it to the screen where you can choose your agents, and it appeared frozen. I tried hitting "enter" this time, and it worked! Leaving the issue open, as this is just a workaround and I haven't verified it on my desktop. Below is what I did that worked:

POTENTIAL WORKAROUND (worked for me):

1. Install BMAD v4.
2. Run "npm install commander"
3. Run "npm run install:bmad"
4. When it gets to the tool selection page, if it appears frozen, hit enter once.
5. Have BMAD v6 installed.