Adding a directory to the PATH environment variable in Windows

Question

I am trying to add C  xampp php to my system PATH environment variable in Windows  I have already added it using the Environment Variables dialog box  But when I type into my console  C   gt path  it doesn t show the new C  xampp php directory  PATH D  Program Files Autodesk Maya2008 bin C  Ruby192 bin C  WINDOWS system32 C  WINDOWS  C  WINDOWS System32 Wbem C  PROGRA 1 DISKEE 2 DISKEE 1  c  Program Files Microsoft SQL Server 90 Tools binn  C  Program Files QuickTime QTSystem  D  Program Files TortoiseSVN bin  D  Program Files Bazaar C  Program Files Android android-sdk tools D  Program Files  Microsoft Visual Studio Common Tools WinNT D  Program Files Microsoft Visual Studio Common  MSDev98 Bin D  Program Files Microsoft Visual Studio Common Tools D  Program Files  Microsoft Visual Studio VC98 bin  I have two questions   Why did this happen  Is there something I did wrong  Also  how do I add directories to my PATH variable using the console  and programmatically  with a batch file

User · Answer

Aside from all the answers  if you want a nice GUI tool to edit your Windows environment variables you can use Rapid Environment Editor  Try it  It s safe to use and is awesome

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If you run the command cmd  it will update all system variables for that command window

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I would use PowerShell instead  To add a directory to PATH using PowerShell  do the following   PATH    Environment   GetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    xampp path    quot C  xampp php quot   Environment   SetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    quot  PATH  xampp path quot    To set the variable for all users  machine-wide  the last line should be like   Environment   SetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    quot  PATH  xampp path quot    quot Machine quot    In a PowerShell script  you might want to check for the presence of your C  xampp php before adding to PATH  in case it has been previously added   You can wrap it in an if conditional  So putting it all together   PATH    Environment   GetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    quot Machine quot    xampp path    quot C  xampp php quot  if   PATH -notlike  quot   quot   xampp path  quot   quot          Environment   SetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    quot  PATH  xampp path quot    quot Machine quot      Better still  one could create a generic function  Just supply the directory you wish to add  function AddTo-Path  param       string  Dir        if    Test-Path  Dir             Write-warning  quot Supplied directory was not found  quot          return            PATH    Environment   GetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    quot Machine quot       if   PATH -notlike  quot   quot   Dir  quot   quot              Environment   SetEnvironmentVariable  quot PATH quot    quot  PATH  Dir quot    quot Machine quot            You could make things better by doing some polishing  For example  using Test-Path to confirm that your directory actually exists

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I have installed PHP that time  Extracted php-7    zip into C  php  Backup my current PATH environment variable  run cmd  and execute command  path  gt C  path-backup txt Get my current path value into C  path txt file  same way  Modify path txt  sure  my path length is more than 1024 chars  windows is running few years    I have removed duplicates paths in there  like  C  Windows   or C  Windows System32  or C  Windows System32 Wbem   - I ve got twice  Remove uninstalled programs paths as well  Example  C  Program Files NonExistSoftware  This way  my path string length  lt  1024      at the end of path string add  C  php  Copy path value only into buffer with framed double quotes  Example   C  Windows      C  php   No PATH  should be there     Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator  Run command     setx path  Here you should insert string from buffer  new path value     Re-run your terminal  I use  Far manager   and check   php -v

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Option 1  After you change PATH with the GUI  close and re-open the console window   This works because only programs started after the change will see the new PATH   Option 2  Execute this command in the command window you have open   set PATH  PATH  C  your path here    This command appends C  your path here  to the current PATH   Breaking it down    set     A command that changes cmd s environment variables only for the current cmd session  other programs and the system are unaffected  PATH      Signifies that PATH is the environment variable to be temporarily changed   PATH  C  your path here      The  PATH  part expands to the current value of PATH  and  C  your path here  is then concatenated to it  This becomes the new PATH

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This only modifies the registry   An existing process won t use these values  A new process will do so if it is started after this change and doesn t inherit the old environment from its parent  You didn t specify how you started the console session  The best way to ensure this is to exit the command shell and run it again  It should then inherit the updated PATH environment variable

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You don t need any set or setx command  Simply open the terminal and type  PATH  This shows the current value of PATH variable  Now you want to add directory to it  Simply type  PATH  PATH  C  xampp php  If for any reason you want to clear the PATH variable  no paths at all or delete all paths in it   type  PATH    Update Like Danial Wilson noted in comment below  it sets the path only in the current session  To set the path permanently  use setx but be aware  although that sets the path permanently  but not in the current session  so you have to start a new command line to see the changes  More information is here  To check if an environmental variable exist or see its value  use the ECHO command  echo  YOUR ENV VARIABLE

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As trivial as it may be  I had to restart Windows when faced with this problem  I am running Windows 7 x64  I did a manual update to the system PATH variable  This worked okay if I ran cmd exe from the stat menu  But if I type  quot cmd quot  in the Windows Explorer address bar  it seems to load the PATH from elsewhere  which doesn t have my manual changes   To avoid doubt - yes  I did close and rerun cmd a couple of times before I restarted and it didn t help

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Checking the above suggestions on Windows 10 LTSB  and with a glimpse on the  quot help quot  outlines  that can be viewed when typing  command     on the cmd   brought me to the conclusion that the PATH command changes the system environment variable Path values only for the current session  but after reboot all the values reset to their default- just as they were prior to using the PATH command  On the other hand using the SETX command with administrative privileges is way more powerful  It changes those values for good  or at least until the next time this command is used or until next time those values are manually GUI manipulated       The best SETX syntax usage that worked for me  SETX PATH  quot  PATH  C  path to where the command resides quot   where any equal sign     should be avoided  and don t you worry about spaces  There isn t any need to insert any more quotation marks for a path that contains spaces inside it - the split sign     does the job  The PATH keyword that follows the SETX defines which set of values should be changed among the System Environment Variables possible values  and the  PATH   the word PATH surrounded by the percent sign  inside the quotation marks  tells the OS to leave the existing PATH values as they are and add the following path  the one that follows the split sign      to the existing values

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A better alternative to Control Panel is to use this freeware program from SourceForge called Pathenator  However  it only works for a system that has  NET 4 0 or greater such as Windows  7  Windows  8  or Windows  10

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Safer SETX Nod to all the comments on the  Nafscript s initial SETX answer   SETX by default will update your user path  SETX      M will update your system path   PATH  contains the system path with the user path appended  Warnings  Backup your PATH - SETX will truncate your junk longer than 1024 characters Don t call SETX  PATH  xxx - adds the system path into the user path Don t call SETX  PATH  xxx  M - adds the user path into the system path Excessive batch file use can cause blindness1  The ss64 SETX page has some very good examples  Importantly it points to where the registry keys are for SETX vs SETX  M  User Variables  HKCU Environment System Variables  HKLM SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Session Manager Environment  Usage instructions Append to User PATH append user path cmd  ECHO OFF REM usage  append user path  quot path quot  SET Key  quot HKCU Environment quot  FOR  F  quot usebackq tokens 2  quot    A IN   REG QUERY  Key   v PATH   DO Set CurrPath   B ECHO  CurrPath   gt  user path bak txt SETX PATH  quot  CurrPath  quot   1  Append to System PATH append system path cmd  Must be run as administrator   It s basically the same except with a different Key and the SETX  M modifier    ECHO OFF REM usage  append system path  quot path quot  SET Key  quot HKLM SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Session Manager Environment quot  FOR  F  quot usebackq tokens 2  quot    A IN   REG QUERY  Key   v PATH   DO Set CurrPath   B ECHO  CurrPath   gt  system path bak txt SETX PATH  quot  CurrPath  quot   1  M  Alternatives Finally there s potentially an improved version called SETENV recommended by the ss64 SETX page that splits out setting the user or system environment variables   1  Not strictly true

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Use pathed from gtools  It does things in an intuitive way  For example  pathed  REMOVE  quot c  my folder quot  pathed  APPEND  quot c  my folder quot   It shows results without the need to spawn a new cmd

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On Windows 10  I was able to search for set path environment variable and got these instructions   From the desktop  right-click the very bottom-left corner of the screen to get the Power User Task Menu  From the Power User Task Menu  click System  In the Settings window  scroll down to the Related settings section and click the System info link  In the System window  click the Advanced system settings link in the left navigation panel  In the System Properties window  click the Advanced tab  then click the Environment Variables button near the bottom of that tab  In the Environment Variables window  pictured below   highlight the Path variable in the System variables section and click the Edit button  Add or modify the path lines with the paths you want the computer to access  Each different directory is separated with a semicolon  as shown below    C  Program Files C  Winnt C  Winnt System32  The first time I searched for it  it immediately popped up the System Properties Window   After that  I found the above instructions

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Command line changes will not be permanent and will be lost when the console closes  The path works like first comes first served  You may want to override other already included executables  For instance  if you already have another version on your path and you want to add different version without making a permanent change on path  you should put the directory at the beginning of the command   To override already included executables   set PATH C  xampp php  PATH

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WARNING  This solution may be destructive to your PATH  and the stability of your system  As a side effect  it will merge your user and system PATH  and truncate PATH to 1024 characters  The effect of this command is irreversible  Make a backup of PATH first  See the comments for more information       Don t blindly copy-and-paste this  Use with caution    You can permanently add a path to PATH with the setx command   setx  M path   path  C  your path here     Remove the  M flag if you want to set the user PATH instead of the system PATH   Notes    The setx command is only available in Windows 7 and later  You should run this command from an elevated command prompt  If you only want to change it for the current session  use set

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In a command prompt you tell Cmd to use Windows  Explorer s command line by prefacing it with start  So start Yourbatchname  Note you have to register as if its name is batchfile exe  Programs and documents can be added to the registry so typing their name without their path in the Start - Run dialog box or shortcut enables Windows to find them  This is a generic reg file  Copy the lines below to a new Text Document and save it as anyname reg  Edit it with your programs or documents  In paths  use    to separate folder names in key paths as regedit uses a single   to separate its key names  All reg files start with REGEDIT4  A semicolon turns a line into a comment  The   symbol means to assign the value to the key rather than a named value  The file doesn t have to exist  This can be used to set Word exe to open Winword exe  Typing start batchfile will start iexplore exe  REGEDIT4  The bolded name below is the name of the document or program   lt filename gt   lt file extension gt    HKEY LOCAL MACHINE Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion App Paths Batchfile exe     The   means the path to the file is assigned to the default value for the key    The whole path in enclosed in a quotation mark  quot       quot   quot C   Program Files  Internet Explorer  iexplore exe  quot  quot     Optional Parameters  The semicolon means don t process the line  Remove it if you want to put it in the registry    Informs the shell that the program accepts URLs     quot useURL quot   quot 1 quot     Sets the path that a program will use as its  default directory  This is commented out     quot Path quot   quot C   Program Files  Microsoft Office  Office   quot   You ve already been told about path in another answer  Also see doskey    for cmd macros  they only work when typing   You can run startup commands for CMD  From Windows Resource Kit Technical Reference AutoRun HKCU Software Microsoft Command Processor  Data type Range Default value REG SZ  list of commands  There is no default value for this entry   Description Contains commands which are executed each time you start Cmd exe

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Handy if you are already in the directory you want to add to PATH  set PATH  PATH   CD   It works with the standard Windows cmd  but not in PowerShell  For PowerShell  the  CD  equivalent is  System Environment   CurrentDirectory

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Regarding point 2 I m using a simple batch file that is populating PATH or other environment variables for me  Therefore  there is no pollution of environment variables by default  This batch file is accessible from everywhere so I can type   c   gt mybatchfile -- here all env  are available c   gt php file php

[windows] Adding a directory to the PATH environment variable in Windows

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