Eval the following in *scratch* (require 'package) (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "http://stable.melpa.org/packages/") t) (package-initialize) (package-refresh-contents) (package-install 'flycheck) (global-flycheck-mode) Then open and edit a javascript file. Flycheck complains about missing libxml2. As far as I can see, this should have been bundled with emacs. In GNU Emacs 25.0.95.1 (i686-w64-mingw32) of 2016-06-12 built on LAPHROAIG Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 6.1.7601 Configured using: 'configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32 --without-dbus --without-compress-install CFLAGS=-static' Configured features: XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG SOUND NOTIFY ACL GNUTLS LIBXML2 ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS Important settings: value of $LANG: NOR locale-coding-system: cp1252 Major mode: JavaScript Minor modes in effect: global-flycheck-mode: t flycheck-mode: t tooltip-mode: t global-eldoc-mode: t electric-indent-mode: t mouse-wheel-mode: t tool-bar-mode: t menu-bar-mode: t file-name-shadow-mode: t global-font-lock-mode: t font-lock-mode: t blink-cursor-mode: t auto-composition-mode: t auto-encryption-mode: t auto-compression-mode: t line-number-mode: t transient-mark-mode: t Recent messages: Wrote c:/Users/alfler/tmp/.emacs.d/elpa/flycheck-28/flycheck.elc Checking c:/Users/alfler/tmp/.emacs.d/elpa/flycheck-28... Done (Total of 2 files compiled, 3 skipped) (New file) libxml2 library not found [3 times] Suspicious state from syntax checker javascript-eslint: Checker javascript-eslint returned non-zero exit code 1, but no errors from output: Checker definition probably flawed. ESC M-x is undefined Making completion list... [2 times] Load-path shadows: None found. Features: (shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug sendmail js advice sgml-mode imenu thingatpt cc-mode cc-fonts cc-guess cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs ert pp ewoc debug flycheck derived edmacro kmacro subr-x dash jka-compr let-alist easy-mmode tar-mode json map find-func epl rx compile comint ansi-color ring autoload lisp-mnt cus-edit cus-start cus-load wid-edit mm-archive message dired format-spec rfc822 mml mml-sec epg mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-utils network-stream nsm starttls url-http tls gnutls mail-parse rfc2231 rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums url-gw url-cache url-auth url url-proxy url-privacy url-expand url-methods url-history url-cookie url-domsuf url-util mailcap url-handlers url-parse auth-source cl-seq eieio eieio-core cl-macs gnus-util mm-util help-fns mail-prsvr password-cache url-vars finder-inf package epg-config seq byte-opt gv bytecomp byte-compile cl-extra help-mode easymenu cconv cl-loaddefs pcase cl-lib time-date mule-util tooltip eldoc electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 ls-lisp disp-table w32-win w32-vars term/common-win tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list newcomment elisp-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cl-generic cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese charscript case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer cl-preloaded nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote w32notify w32 multi-tty make-network-process emacs) Memory information: ((conses 8 214851 46200) (symbols 32 31351 20) (miscs 32 51 179) (strings 16 52674 10704) (string-bytes 1 1587151) (vectors 8 33338) (vector-slots 4 1361808 23628) (floats 8 301 367) (intervals 28 343 177) (buffers 520 14))