How to set user environment variables in Windows Server 2008 R2 as a normal user

Question

In older versions of Windows  it was just open the Control Panel  select the System applet  select the Advanced tab  and then hit the Environment variables button   As a normal user  you could edit the  User variables  but not the  System variables    In Windows Server 2008 R2  if I try to hit the Advanced System settings option in the System applet  it prompts for the Administrator password

User · Answer

I created a godmode folder on the desktop   just create a new folder on the desktop and call it GodMode  ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C  it will name the folder as godmode and populate the content with various config options  you can then just type in ENVIRO in the search to find the relevant config option  open it and it opens sysdm cpl in the advanced tab  you can change the environment variables from there

User · Answer

Under  Start  enter  environment  in the search field  That will list the option to change the system variables directly in the start menu

User · Answer

This can be done from the command line using the SETX command  For example to  move  your temporary files to another disk   SETX TEMP d  tmp

User · Answer

You can also use this direct command line to open the Advanced System Properties   sysdm cpl   Then go to the Advanced Tab -  Environment Variables

User · Answer

OK I found it   Arg  an exercise in frustration   They left the old window menu traversal path for changing environment variables in there  but limited access to administrators only   As a normal user  if you want to change it  you need to go through a different set of options to arrive at the same frigging window   Control Panel -  User Accounts -  User Accounts -  Change my environment variables

User · Answer

In command line prompt   set   COMPAT LAYER RUNASINVOKER SystemPropertiesAdvanced exe   Now you can set user environment variables

User · Answer

There are three ways  1  This runs the GUI editor for the user environment variables   It does exactly what the OP wanted to do and does not prompt for administrative credentials   rundll32 exe sysdm cpl EditEnvironmentVariables    bonus  This works on Windows Vista to Windows 10 for desktops and Windows Server 2008 through Server 2016   It does not work on Windows NT  2000  XP  and 2003  However  on the older systems you can use sysdm cpl without the   EditEnvironmentVariables  parameter and then navigate to the Advanced tab and then Environment Variables button    2  Use the SETX command from the command prompt  This is like the set command but updates the environment that s stored in the registry   Unfortunately  SETX is not as easy to use as the built in SET command  There s no way to list the variables for example   Thus it s impossible to do something such as appending a folder to the user s PATH variable   While SET will display the variables you don t know which ones are user vs  system variables and the PATH that s shown is a combination of both   3  Use regedit and navigate to HKEY CURRENT USER Environment  Keep in mind that changes to the user s environment does not immediately propagate to all processes currently running for that user   You can see this in a command prompt where your changes will not be visible if you use SET   For example  rem Add a user environment variable named stackoverflow that s set to  test  setx stackoverflow test set st   This should show all variables whose names start with the letters  st    If there are none then it displays  Environment variable st not defined   Exit the command prompt and start another   Try set st again and you ll see  stackoverflow test   To delete the stackoverflow variable use  setx stackoverflow      It will respond with  SUCCESS  Specified value was saved   which looks strange given you want to delete the variable   However  if you start a new command prompt then set st will show that there are no variables starting with the letters  st    correction - I discovered that setx stackoverflow    did not delete the variable   It s in the registry as an empty string   The SET command though interprets it as though there is no variable  if not defined stackoverflow echo Not defined says it s not defined

User · Answer

Step by step instructions     Go to Control Panel  System and Security System  Click on Change Settings Go to    Advance    tab Click on Environment Variables

[windows] How to set user environment variables in Windows Server 2008 R2 as a normal user?

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