Hi.
What is exactly the command you’re using to get the version?
The command is

firebase --version

with two “-”
From what you posted, it seems you’re using only one “-”
Regards,
Sara

sorry, here are the results with two dashes:
 
PS C:\> firebase –version
module.js:338
throw err;
^
Error: Cannot find module ‘C:\Users\tmo.SHADOW-2018\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase-tools\lib\bin\firebase.js’
at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:336:15)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:278:25)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:501:10)
at startup (node.js:129:16)
at node.js:814:3
PS C:\>

in both examples, those look like one dash but are actually two

When you run the command to install Firebase tools what message do you get?

I completely uninstalled all versions of Python, chocolatey, NPM and Visual Studio Code. then reinstalled everything (in order) making sure that all was done with administrator privilages and it now works.

PS C:\> npm -g install firebase-tools
npm WARN deprecated har-validator@5.1.3: this library is no longer supported
npm WARN deprecated debug@4.1.0: Debug versions >=3.2.0 <3.2.7 || >=4 <4.3.1 have a low-severity ReDos regression when used in a Node.js environment. It is recommended you upgrade to 3.2.7 or 4.3.1. (https://github.com/visionmedia/debug/issues/797)
npm WARN deprecated debug@4.1.1: Debug versions >=3.2.0 <3.2.7 || >=4 <4.3.1 have a low-severity ReDos regression when used in a Node.js environment. It is recommended you upgrade to 3.2.7 or 4.3.1. (https://github.com/visionmedia/debug/issues/797)
npm WARN deprecated debug@3.2.6: Debug versions >=3.2.0 <3.2.7 || >=4 <4.3.1 have a low-severity ReDos regression when used in a Node.js environment. It is recommended you upgrade to 3.2.7 or 4.3.1. (https://github.com/visionmedia/debug/issues/797)
npm WARN deprecated uuid@3.4.0: Please upgrade to version 7 or higher. Older versions may use Math.random() in certain circumstances, which is known to be problematic. See https://v8.dev/blog/math-random for details.
npm WARN deprecated uuid@3.4.0: Please upgrade to version 7 or higher. Older versions may use Math.random() in certain circumstances, which is known to be problematic. See https://v8.dev/blog/math-random for details.
npm WARN deprecated uuid@3.4.0: Please upgrade to version 7 or higher. Older versions may use Math.random() in certain circumstances, which is known to be problematic. See https://v8.dev/blog/math-random for details.
npm WARN deprecated request@2.88.0: request has been deprecated, see https://github.com/request/request/issues/3142
npm WARN deprecated request@2.88.2: request has been deprecated, see https://github.com/request/request/issues/3142

added 687 packages, and audited 688 packages in 1m

33 packages are looking for funding
run `npm fund` for details

28 vulnerabilities (4 low, 20 moderate, 4 high)

To address all issues, run:
npm audit fix

Run `npm audit` for details.
PS C:\> firebase –version
10.1.2
PS C:\>

thank you for your help.

As you can see from that message, it wasn’t able to install firebase.
What is the operating system that you’re using?
Did you install node.js?
I don’t know what that error means.
Can you try to update npm? https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18412129/how-can-i-update-npm-on-windows/27464115
Regards,
Sara