[BUG] (Windows/Laravel/npm) cb() never called!

[GostGaming]

Sorry to add to the list but my issue seems slightly different than what I could find.

Current Behavior:

Attempting to install npm on Laravel project
Running npm install gives "npm ERR! cb() never called!"
Running npm audit gives "Unexpected end of JSON input while parsing near '' "
Running npm run dev or prod anyway gives " 'cross-env' is not recognized as an internal or external command..." with code ELIFECYCLE

Other notes:

npm install log shows: "19754 http fetch POST 301 https://registry.npmjs.org/-/npm/v1/security/audits/quick 205ms
19755 http fetch GET 400 https://github.com/ 265ms"
node -p process.platform shows win32 on x64 install
No proxy/vpn used.

Expected Behavior:

Should install npm per package.json instructions, allow npm run prod/dev

Steps To Reproduce:

1. Windows cmd, git clone project
2. composer update (works fine)
3. fresh node/npm installation
4. npm install
5. receive npm ERR! cb() never called!
6. npm audit
7. receive "Unexpected end of JSON input while parsing near '' "
8. npm cache clear -f
9. repeat to no avail

Environment:

npm --versions
{
npm: '6.14.6',
ares: '1.16.0',
brotli: '1.0.7',
cldr: '37.0',
http_parser: '2.9.3',
icu: '67.1',
llhttp: '2.0.4',
modules: '72',
napi: '6',
nghttp2: '1.41.0',
node: '12.18.3',
openssl: '1.1.1g',
tz: '2019c',
unicode: '13.0',
uv: '1.38.0',
v8: '7.8.279.23-node.39',
zlib: '1.2.11'
}
2020-09-06T19_48_22_233Z-debug.log
2020-09-06T19_42_53_491Z-debug.log

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.