Append to System PATH variable value using a batch file

Question

I want to create a batch file to add the current directory to my System variable PATH, (not my User variable).

When I use:

SETX /M PATH "%CD%;%PATH%"

it does the needed thing. However, I get an error message:

data being saved is truncated to 1024 characters.

When I check the System variable using the GUI, I saw that User Path is getting added to the System Path. As a result, the System Path has duplicated entries.

I tried assigning the %PATH% variable to a temporary variable and echoing but I saw the duplications there as well.

I saw in some stack answer that the %PATH% variable we use in the batch file is actually a concatenation of both User Path and System Path.

At the Command Prompt, I tried:

REG QUERY "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v PATH"

but I don't have idea much about whether we can use it to take that PATH value and assign to another variable.

So I need to find a way to assign ONLY the SYSTEM PATH to a temporary variable, let's say SYS_PATHS. How can I do that?
Is there a better way to overcome this scenario?

You might not believe it, but others wanted to add a folder path also to system path using a batch file. So lots of solutions can be found on using Stack Overflow search for example with [batch-file] system path add. There are lots of not good solutions which tend to corrupt system PATH and some very good solutions. — Mofi
– Mofi, Commented May 31, 2019 at 10:11
Here are some of my solutions: Adding the current directory to Windows path permanently, Why are other folder paths also added to system PATH with SetX and not only the specified folder path? and How to search and replace a string in environment variable PATH? and How can I use a .bat file to remove specific tokens from the PATH environment variable? There is a lot to read, but please read it. — Mofi
– Mofi, Commented May 31, 2019 at 10:17
Please take also a look on What is the reason for "X is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file"? It looks like you don't need current directory path added persistent to system PATH. You just want to add this folder path to local PATH. This is usually not needed because of cmd.exe searches first always in current directory for a program or script before making use of local PATH and local PATHEXT. — Mofi
– Mofi, Commented May 31, 2019 at 10:23
So it could be enough to use in batch file just if "%PATH:~-1%" == ";" ( set "PATH=%PATH%%CD%" ) else ( set "PATH=%PATH%;%CD%" ) to append current directory path to local PATH environment variable not persistent stored in Windows registry and being used only by currently running command process and all applications started from within this command process. — Mofi
– Mofi, Commented May 31, 2019 at 10:26

Phantom · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-03 03:35:39Z

1

I found the answer to the question I asked in a link provided by @Mofi. This is how you can take the system path only, and append a directory to it.

set "env=HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"

for /f "tokens=2*" %%I in (
     'reg query "%env%" /v Path ^| findstr /i "\<Path\>"'
) do setx /m PATH "%%J;%CD%"

answered Jun 3, 2019 at 3:35

Phantom

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