PATH

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Guide to Boot Sequence
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/winguide/booting.html

PATH environment variable
The system finds the commands you type by searching in each of the
directories listed in the PATH environment variable (unless you specify the
entire absolute pathname of the command yourself).

Path
The complete location of where a computer, file, web, or other object is
located.

Where do you see c:\a;c:\b;c:\d;c:\a;c:\b;c:\d ??
From the set or path commands?

You should see something like...

PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem

What problem(s) are you having?

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In newsM2me.646$HN1.594@fe02.lga,
Nobody Special <dummy_addr@charter.net> hunted and pecked:
> Would someone please direct me to a place where the boot sequence is
> described in detail or alternately give me your best advise as to why my
> path is being repeated (it shows path=c:\a;c:\b;c:\d;c:\a;c:\b;c:\d).
> Thanks.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

For what? What is/was the problem?

Incorrect PATH environment variable?


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:ru3me.930$dN6.333@fe03.lga,
Nobody Special <dummy_addr@charter.net> hunted and pecked:
> Thanks Wesley
>
> "Wesley Vogel" <123WVogel955@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:uGdrAe7YFHA.3932@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Guide to Boot Sequence
> http://www.pcguru.plus.com/winguide/booting.html
>
> PATH environment variable
> The system finds the commands you type by searching in each of the
> directories listed in the PATH environment variable (unless you specify
> the entire absolute pathname of the command yourself).
>
> Path
> The complete location of where a computer, file, web, or other object is
> located.
> - - - - - -
> Where do you see c:\a;c:\b;c:\d;c:\a;c:\b;c:\d ??
> From the set or path commands?
>
> Either shows the same, but of course set shows all the other variables.
> Here's what it actually shows:
>
>
PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;c:\Python22;C:\
Program
> files\PC-Doctor for Windows
>
XP\WINDSAPI;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;c:\Pytho
n22;C:\Program
> files\PC-Doctor for Windows XP\WINDSAPI;C:\utils;C:\batch
>
> The last two (C:\utils & C:\batch) are being set by my autoexec.bat which
> is
>
> @echo off
> set OLDPATH=%PATH%
> set PATH=%OLDPATH%;C:\utils;C:\batch
> set OLDPATH=
>
> - - - - - -
> You should see something like...
>
> PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
>
> What problem(s) are you having?
>
> Well, the problem is just the repeated path. Not that it's necessarily
> messing anything up, it's just that it's not right that it's repeated
> like that for no reason. I could just let it be and ignore it, but I'd
> like to fix it if possible.
>
> Thanks again, Wes
> - - - - - -
> --
> Hope this helps. Let us know.
>
> Wes
> MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
>
> In newsM2me.646$HN1.594@fe02.lga,
> Nobody Special <dummy_addr@charter.net> hunted and pecked:
>> Would someone please direct me to a place where the boot sequence is
>> described in detail or alternately give me your best advise as to why my
>> path is being repeated (it shows path=c:\a;c:\b;c:\d;c:\a;c:\b;c:\d).
>> Thanks.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Yes, no problem to delete the duplicates. Possibly a repair installation.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| The incorrectness is that it's repeated,
| for no reason,
| that's all.
| I'd like to correct that.
|
| PATH=
| C:\WINDOWS\system32;
| C:\WINDOWS;
| C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;
| c:\Python22;
| C:\Program files\PC-Doctor for Windows XP\WINDSAPI;
| C:\WINDOWS\system32;
| C:\WINDOWS;
| C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;
| c:\Python22;
| C:\Program files\PC-Doctor for Windows XP\WINDSAPI;
| C:\utils;C:\batch
|
| Have you seen this before?
| If so, what caused it?
| Thanks again for your help.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

It is stored in the registry. Control Panel|System|Advanced|Environment
Variables|System Variables|Path|Edit

If you want some help with this you can copy the string from "Variable
value:" and paste in a reply.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Hi Dave,
| Thanks for the response. I figured there wouldn't be a problem removing
the
| duplicates. My problem is that I don't know what to delete them from. What
| file?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Look for a "path" variable in "User variables" Check the contents of
Autoexec.nt found in;
\windows\system32
directory.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Well, that's what's weird. It's shows up there only once rather than two
| identical strings concatenated as it shows with the path or set commands.
Have
| any idea what could be doing that?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

No, I missed that. It would append not replace.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| No path variable in "User variables" and nothing out of the ordinary in
| Autoexec.nt
| Did you notice from my previous response to Wes Vogel showing the contents
of
| my autoexec.bat?
| @echo off
| set OLDPATH=%PATH%
| set PATH=%OLDPATH%;C:\utils;C:\batch
| set OLDPATH=
| Would the system assume that the user would _not_ take care of preserving
the
| initial path?
| If the autoexec.bat simply contained only set PATH=C:\utils;C:\batch,
would the
| system add
| that to the existing path, or would it replace the existing path?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

PS: I'd sure appreciate it if you would let me know if you ever determine why
the processing of autoexec.bat behaves in that odd manner when launching cmd.
There's got to be something a tad out of the ordinary there. My email address
is rps[at]rpseeley.com

| my autoexec.bat?
| @echo off
| set OLDPATH=%PATH%
| set PATH=%OLDPATH%;C:\utils;C:\batch
| set OLDPATH=
| Would the system assume that the user would _not_ take care of preserving
the
| initial path?
| If the autoexec.bat simply contained only set PATH=C:\utils;C:\batch,
would the
| system add
| that to the existing path, or would it replace the existing path?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

No. I suppose maybe I should have tried that first just to see what it would
do, but I went ahead and deleted those lines out of autoexec and added the two
directories to my path by way of Control Panel.

"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:%23GDEDo%23YFHA.2520@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
Not sure I'm following you. Did you try only;
set PATH=C:\utils;C:\batch
in autoexec.bat?

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| That what I thought, but apparently not the case here. After clearing out
| autoexec.bat and adding those two directories to the path via the Control
| Panel, everything is normal now. No more repeated string in the path
variable.
| In other batch files where I've wanted to temporarily add a directory to
the
| path, that method works just fine. I don't get it. Anyway, there's a
mystery
| for you to ponder in your spare time. Heheh. Thanks again for your help.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Because having those lines in the autoexec.bat, even though they are designed
to merely append the path variable, what happened was different than what would
normally be expected in that something associated with the execution of
autoexec.bat caused appending the entire path string to itself before appending
the two new directories to the string. That's what I meant by "apparently not
the case here".

"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:eQLt9J$YFHA.3280@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
Then I don't understand what you meant by "apparently not the case here"

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| No. I suppose maybe I should have tried that first just to see what it
would
| do, but I went ahead and deleted those lines out of autoexec and added the
two
| directories to my path by way of Control Panel.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Ok. Here's what I just did:
I edited autoexec.bat to read

@echo off
set PATH=F:\TEMP3

then rebooted and ran path.
Here's what came up:

PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;c:\utils;c:\batch;c:\Python22;C:\Program
files\PC-Doctor for Windows XP\WINDSAPI;F:\TEMP3

Do you see it now?
Autoexec.bat didn't REPLACE the path variable,
it appended it.

"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:ekdZEZ$YFHA.980@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
But you didn't try;
set PATH=C:\utils;C:\batch
in autoexec.bat

These lines are what caused it.
set OLDPATH=%PATH%
set PATH=%OLDPATH%;C:\utils;C:\batch

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Because having those lines in the autoexec.bat, even though they are
designed
| to merely append the path variable, what happened was different than what
would
| normally be expected in that something associated with the execution of
| autoexec.bat caused appending the entire path string to itself before
appending
| the two new directories to the string. That's what I meant by "apparently
not
| the case here".

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Didn't you just tell me that
set PATH=
would normally result in _replacing_ the path string?
Now you're telling me that append is the expected behavior.
Do you see why I'm confused here?
It seems autoexec.bat is a special case
where the normal rules of set VAR= do not apply.

"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
newsXBiHh$YFHA.2420@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
Correct. Append is the expected behavior.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Ok. Here's what I just did:
| I edited autoexec.bat to read
|
| @echo off
| set PATH=F:\TEMP3
|
| then rebooted and ran path.
| Here's what came up:
|
|
PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;c:\utils;c:\batch;c:\Python22;C:\Program
| files\PC-Doctor for Windows XP\WINDSAPI;F:\TEMP3
|
| Do you see it now?
| Autoexec.bat didn't REPLACE the path variable,
| it appended it.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Ok. Sorry about that. My mistake. All these years I've been operating under an
erroneous idea of how set works. I really appreciate you setting me straight on
that. Now I've got to go and correct all those batch files that I wrote to
temporarily append a particular directory to the path. Append is the expected
behavior. Append is the expected behavior. I think I've got it now. Thank you
very much.

"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:%23T2rm3$YFHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
Negative, I did not. Check back up in the thread to confirm.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Didn't you just tell me that
| set PATH=
| would normally result in _replacing_ the path string?
| Now you're telling me that append is the expected behavior.


| Do you see why I'm confused here?
| It seems autoexec.bat is a special case
| where the normal rules of set VAR= do not apply.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Ohmagosh. I thought I understood, but the very first batch file that I modified
with "append is the expected behavior" in mind, the set path= statement
REPLACED the path variable. Arghhh! I'm going to go with what I said before,
that the autoexec.bat is a special case.
set OLDPATH=%PATH%
set PATH=C:\Program Files\WinZip;%OLDPATH%
set OLDPATH=
works.
set PATH=C:\Program Files\WinZip
doesn't. It drops all of the old path string leaving only the new path.
Maybe
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\WinZip
would work also. I'll give it a shot.

"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:%23zcoIGAZFHA.2128@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
No problem. You're welcome.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Ok. Sorry about that. My mistake. All these years I've been operating
under an
| erroneous idea of how set works. I really appreciate you setting me
straight on
| that. Now I've got to go and correct all those batch files that I wrote to
| temporarily append a particular directory to the path. Append is the
expected
| behavior. Append is the expected behavior. I think I've got it now. Thank
you
| very much.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

the 'temporarily' part of that statement is wrong. After I had run that
modified batch file I ran 'path' at the command prompt and it came up with only
what that modified batch file had replaced the path string with. Now, if by
'temporarily' you mean that the original path will be restored after returning
to Windows, that's correct, but as long as one is still in command line mode,
that original path is not a part of the active path environment variable. It
remains what the last set statement made it until a new instance of cmd is run.
btw: I tried
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Winzip
and that works fine. The OLDPATH variable steps aren't necessary.
- - -
"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:%2351PMdAZFHA.1092@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
Yes, autoexec.bat is a special case in that it is read at boot and *appends*
the system path statement. When you use set PATH= in a batch file it
temporarily *replaces*

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Nobody Special" wrote:
| Ohmagosh. I thought I understood, but the very first batch file that I
modified
| with "append is the expected behavior" in mind, the set path= statement
| REPLACED the path variable. Arghhh! I'm going to go with what I said
before,
| that the autoexec.bat is a special case.
| set OLDPATH=%PATH%
| set PATH=C:\Program Files\WinZip;%OLDPATH%
| set OLDPATH=
| works.
| set PATH=C:\Program Files\WinZip
| doesn't. It drops all of the old path string leaving only the new path.
| Maybe
| set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\WinZip
| would work also. I'll give it a shot.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

The only lines in Autoexec.bat that Windows XP will read are the lines that
begin with SET or PATH. If ParseAutoexec is set to 1.

When this value is enabled the variables listed in the Autoexec.bat file
will be parsed and included in the current user environment.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value Name: ParseAutoexec
Data Type: REG_SZ
Data: 0 or 1
0 : Ignores Autoexec.bat at logon.
1 : Parses Autoexec.bat at logon.

This has no effect on the parsing of AUTOEXEC.NT or CONFIG.NT by the MS-DOS
or 16-bit Windows environments (VDMs).

Also see this...
How do I check for duplicate path entries?
http://www.jsifaq.com/SUBJ/tip4700/rh4770.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:Qs8me.1203$dN6.45@fe03.lga,
Nobody Special <dummy_addr@charter.net> hunted and pecked:
> PS: I'd sure appreciate it if you would let me know if you ever determine
> why the processing of autoexec.bat behaves in that odd manner when
> launching cmd. There's got to be something a tad out of the ordinary
> there. My email address is rps[at]rpseeley.com
>
>> my autoexec.bat?
>> @echo off
>> set OLDPATH=%PATH%
>> set PATH=%OLDPATH%;C:\utils;C:\batch
>> set OLDPATH=
>> Would the system assume that the user would _not_ take care of
>> preserving the initial path?
>> If the autoexec.bat simply contained only set PATH=C:\utils;C:\batch,
>> would the system add
>> that to the existing path, or would it replace the existing path?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

Do you have the same PATHs defined in both the "system variable named PATH"
and "user variable named PATH"? If so, then that's how you are getting
duplicates, as Windows Appends the two together. The system variable named
PATH applies to all users, of course user variable named PATH only applies
to that user when this profile is logged in.

<Right Click> My Computer
<Click> Properties <Menu Item>
<Click> Advanced <Tab>
<Click> Environment Variables <Button>
Verify both User Variables for "<profile name>" and System Variables for the
values stored in the variable named "PATH".


--

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"Nobody Special" <dummy_addr@charter.net> wrote in message
newsM2me.646$HN1.594@fe02.lga...
> Would someone please direct me to a place where the boot sequence is
> described
> in detail or alternately give me your best advise as to why my path is
> being
> repeated (it shows path=c:\a;c:\b;c:\d;c:\a;c:\b;c:\d). Thanks.
>
>
>
>