On a fresh Ubuntu 20.4 VirtualBox VM with node 14.20.1 I installed Meteor 2.8.0 using sudo npm install -g meteor --unsafe-perm and created a new project using meteor create --vue simple-todos-vue. Then calling meteor in simple-todo-vue throws the error Unexpected mongo exit code null. Can't start Mongo server..
Why do you need sudo to install meteor? That might have affected the permission of available services
If I try to install meteor with npm install -g meteor without sudo I get the error permission denied, access '/usr/lib/node_modules'. Trying to install with sudo and the same commands would have given the hint to use --unsafe-perm and Install | Meteor API Docs recommends using this option in connection with sudo which would install meteor but generate a faulty project as described in my post.
npm install -g meteor --unsafe-perm without sudo again gives permission denied, access '/usr/lib/node_modules'
Did you try the recommendations to avoid installing meteor with sudo? Although I’m not 100% sure if that will solve your problem
Yes. I used again a fresh Ubuntu20 and did not do those steps described in conjunctive in my reply (Trying…my post).
I had, however, installed previously nodejs with sudo apt -y install nodejs