China DOS Union

Our company has a software that needs to add environment variables to run after installation. Because there are too many, it's a bit annoying. I want to write a script to automatically complete the addition of system environment variables. Does anyone know how?

Under 2003/Vista, there is a setx, but under XP, you can only change the registry through reg/regedit.

Oh, I see! Thanks! It seems that the guys have already enjoyed the new operating system!

Too many? Are there many paths?

Using VBS

dim wsh

Set wsh = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

wsh.Environment("system").Item("<Variable Name>")="<Value>"

Or using REG

set regpath=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment

::System environment variables

::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment

::User environment variables

::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment

reg add "%regpath%" /v "<name>" /d "<data>"

Just replace the content in <> with the name and value you need to define.

If I want to set the value of path, how to use reg add to do it? That is, without changing the original value of path, add the value I need. Can you write down specifically how to do it? Thanks a lot!

The path is represented as binary in the registry, which is not very easy to operate.

Is it that troublesome? Just as the 6th floor said, use:
set regpath=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
reg add "%regpath%" /v "Path" /d "<data>"

But this will overwrite the original value of Path.
I tried writing it like this:
set 　regpath=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
set　 Path=<data>;%Path%
reg add "%regpath%" /v "Path" /d "%Path%"

But there was an error: too many command-line .......

My idea is to export the original value, modify it and then import it back, but I'm not familiar with DOS commands...

I found a very good method. That is to use SET PATH in AUTOEXEC.BAT. I don't know the principle very well, but it has been tested successfully, and I also feel very strange. It is said that WINNT doesn't use AUTOEXEC.BAT anymore, but the fact is not like that. Everyone do a small experiment to see if it can succeed on your computer.

Appending PATH paths without overwriting the original paths: If your system disk doesn't have AUTOEXEC.BAT, then create one, and append the content SET PATH=D:\;E:\;F:\;G:\; in it.

Restart the computer, and the miracle happens. Use set path to check your PATH variable, and it turns out that the variable set in AUTOEXEC.BAT is added to the PATH variable. It's really strange.

Posts where the test is successful. The path above can be changed to any path you need, but you must pay attention that each path must be separated by a semicolon.

Thanks to hunrybecky, but is it really impossible to add Path by modifying the registry? Looking forward to help...

Yes, I also thought of adding it through the registry at first, but then I thought that because it's using expandable characters (I said binary at first, but later found out it's expandable string, sorry), the exported registry is a long string of numbers, so I gave up, and accidentally discovered the method of using AUTOEXEC.BAT just now. Now the method using the registry has also been successful. Actually, expandable characters don't affect, you can directly use the general REG_SZ. The method is as follows:

@ECHO OFF
SET SE=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
REG ADD "%SE%" /V Path /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d %PATH%G:\ACCESS; /f
@ECHO ON

Note that %SPATH%G:\ACCESS; Note that there is no ; between the original variable and the added one

XP should not execute AUTOEXEC.BAT, but will parse some variables in AUTOEXEC.BAT, and the path is one of them.

Originally posted by zh159 at 2006-12-27 22:30:
XP should not execute AUTOEXEC.BAT, but will parse some variables in AUTOEXEC.BAT, and the path is one of them.

Yes, from this example, it can illustrate your point, and what's more interesting is that the variables set in AUTOEXEC.BAT are added to the existing variables instead of replacing them, so using this thing, we should be able to do many interesting things.