Phonegap Cordova installation Windows

I faced the same problem and struggled for an hour to get pass through by reading the documents and the other issues reported in Stack Overflow but I didn't find any answer to it. So, here is the guide to successfully run the phonegap/cordova in Windows Machine.

Follow these steps

1. Download and Install node.js from http://nodejs.org/
2. Run the command npm install -g phonegap (in case of phonegap installation) or run the command npm install -g cordova (in case of Cordova installation).

3. As the installation gets completed you can notice this:

   C:\Users\binaryuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\cordova -> C:\Users\binaryuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\cordova\bin\cordova
   [email protected] C:\Users\binaryuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\cordova
   ├── [email protected]
   ├── [email protected]
   ├── [email protected]
   ├── [email protected]
   ├── [email protected]
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
   ├── [email protected]
   └── [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
   

4. Notice the above line you can see the path were the file is mentioned. Copy that path. In my case it is C:\Users\binaryuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\cordova so use cd C:\Users\binaryuser\AppData\Roaming\npm\ and type cordova. There it is, it finally works.

5. Since the -g key value isn't working you have set the Environment Variables path:
   1. Press Win + Pause|Break or right click on Computer and choose Properties.
   2. Click Advanced system settings on the left.
   3. Click Environment Variables under the Advanced tab.
   4. Select the PATH variable and click Edit.
   5. Copy the path mentioned above to the value field and press OK.

After hours of frustration... here's what i discovered.

1. Ignore the installation documentation and all the command line, node.js stuff (seriously you will waste hours on this.
2. Go to github and simply download the PhoneGap master .zip
3. In that zip are project files for window phone, etc platform... just use those templates.

I don't know how such an easy process could have worse documentation. It as if it was written by lawyers.