CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsbatch-filecmdsystem-variablesetx
Hamed Kamrava
Hamed Kamrava

Reputation: 12847

SETX doesn't append path to system path variable

I have tried below command to append some path to system path variable by batch-file :

setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin"

I have checked system variable path after running above batch-file, above path isn't in there.

enter image description here

You can see all windows Variable value content in below :

C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD APP\bin\x86_64;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMDAPP\bin\x86;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;

What am i doing wrong?

Upvotes: 32

Views: 70019

Answers (7)

V SAI MAHIDHAR
V SAI MAHIDHAR

Reputation: 145

I faced the same problem when I tried to add path variables related to fortran. (Eclipse for C/C++/Fortran)

I tried SETX /M Path "%PATH%;C:\Users\mahidhai\cygwin64\bin" in command prompt as administrator. I got a warning saying data was truncated to 1024 characters and stored.

Edit registry via GUI
  • Run->regedit
  • Navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
    • HKLM is short for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • Doubleclick on the Path entry or invoke value edit mode via context menu
  • Append the parent directory of your exe separated by a semicolon ;
  • Refresh the registry changes to the system

No worries on editing the registry, it is safe as long as you don't change random values.

Though if using a GUI you should use the purpose built one.

Edit via purpose built GUI starting in Explorer
  1. Right click on "This PC"
  2. Click on "Properties"
  3. On the left panel of the window that pops up, click on "Advanced System Settings"
  4. Click on the "Advanced" tab
  5. Click on "Environment Variables" button at the bottom of the window

Environment Variables managment window of Windows

Image from this answer

Upvotes: 0

Louis Burns
Louis Burns

Reputation: 1

To update and expand on Endoro's answer for Windows 10, manually add the path to your Path system variable as a new variable. I wasn't able to get setx to work even changing the flags around. Doing it manually was simple.

To get to your system environmental variables -> Windows Key -> Edit the system environmental variables -> Click Environmental Variables -> Select the Path variable in the System variables frame -> Click Edit -> Click New -> Add the path -> Click Okay

Make sure you close all your CLI windows and open a new one if you're trying to verify by checking the version.

Windows showing where to edit the Path environmental variable

Upvotes: 1

Robert Fey
Robert Fey

Reputation: 1807

WARNING!

setx will truncate the value to 1024 characters.

If you use it to modify PATH you might mess up your system.

You can use this PowerShell snippet to add something to your path:

$new_entry = 'c:\blah'

$old_path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('path', 'machine');
$new_path = $old_path + ';' + $new_entry
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('path', $new_path,'Machine');

In case you want to not re-add an already existing entry something like this will do (see for a better version further down):

$new_entry = 'c:\blah'
$search_pattern = ';' + $new_entry.Replace("\","\\")

$old_path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('path', 'machine');
$replace_string = ''
$without_entry_path = $old_path -replace $search_pattern, $replace_string
$new_path = $without_entry_path + ';' + $new_entry
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('path', $new_path,'Machine');

Here a newer version that I'm using now (2017-10-23). This version handles nested paths correctly. E.g. it handles the case of PATH containing "c:\tool\foo" and you want to add "c:\tool".

Note, that this expands values that are in path and saves them back expanded. If you want to avoid this, have a look at the comment of @ErykSun below.

$desired_entry = 'C:\test'

$old_path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('path', 'machine');

$old_path_entry_list = ($old_path).split(";")
$new_path_entry_list = new-object system.collections.arraylist

foreach($old_path_entry in $old_path_entry_list) {
    if($old_path_entry -eq $desired_entry){
        # ignore old entry
    }else{
        [void]$new_path_entry_list.Add($old_path_entry)
    }
}
[void]$new_path_entry_list.Add($desired_entry)
$new_path = $new_path_entry_list -Join ";"

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('path', $new_path,'Machine');

Upvotes: 21

colin lamarre
colin lamarre

Reputation: 1785

Should never use setx for a path since it's limited to 1024 chars, as mentioned.

Could use reg add:

set pathkey="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"
for /F "usebackq skip=2 tokens=2*" %%A IN (`reg query %pathkey% /v Path`) do (reg add %pathkey% /f /v Path /t REG_SZ /d "%%B;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin")

or set pathkey="HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment" for user path.

Then to broadcast the change:

powershell -command "& {$md=\"[DllImport(`\"user32.dll\"\",SetLastError=true,CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]public static extern IntPtr SendMessageTimeout(IntPtr hWnd,uint Msg,UIntPtr wParam,string lParam,uint fuFlags,uint uTimeout,out UIntPtr lpdwResult);\"; $sm=Add-Type -MemberDefinition $md -Name NativeMethods -Namespace Win32 -PassThru;$result=[uintptr]::zero;$sm::SendMessageTimeout(0xffff,0x001A,[uintptr]::Zero,\"Environment\",2,5000,[ref]$result)}"

Upvotes: 6

chiragchavda.ks
chiragchavda.ks

Reputation: 530

SETX /M Path "%PATH%;%ProgramFiles%\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin\

It will append your path to system variable

Upvotes: 5

mojo
mojo

Reputation: 4132

To piggy-back on @Endoro's answer (I lack the rep to comment):

If you want to change the system-wide environment variables, you have to use /M, a la:

setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin" /M

setx.exe is picky about placement of the /M, BTW. It needs to be at the end.

Upvotes: 33

Endoro
Endoro

Reputation: 37569

you shouldn't look at the system environment variables but to your user environment variables:

enter image description here

Upvotes: 7

Related Questions