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A user of ours cleared their path, thanks to some directions on the internet.

What is the default path, I am a developer so I have tons of extra stuff in mine, what should my user get on a plain jane one?

Kevin Panko
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DevelopingChris
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  • this one http://superuser.com/questions/193368/what-are-default-system-path-settings-on-windows-7-64bit (at risk of being closed as a duplicate) says %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\ i.e. it mentions a WindowsLive directory – barlop Sep 23 '16 at 05:28
  • Related: If it's not too late to try to restore it from a backup, you can https://superuser.com/questions/523688/how-to-restore-the-path-environment-variable-i-deleted – geekley Oct 10 '19 at 23:02
  • Missing the question for `default path` on `Windows 10`. Maybe [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45072617/default-values-of-path-variables-in-windows-10) – Timo Oct 16 '20 at 12:31

4 Answers4

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I just finished installing Windows 7 Enterprise SP1-U (x64 English) in a virtual machine. I can certify the following as the default Path environment variables. Note that I haven't installed anything (not even the "additions", "drivers", or "tools") into the virtual machine.

Default system Path environment variable (the inconsistent capitalization is as-is):

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\

There is no default user Path environment variable (i.e., no such variable was set).

anonymous
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According to this MVP, on Vista it was:

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem

I would assume the same for Windows 7. I also have \Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\ as one of my first entries so you might want to add it as well since PowerShell was shipped with Windows 7.

heavyd
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    PowerShell path is included in default system path in W7 – climenole Jul 30 '12 at 17:18
  • this one you were keen to close http://superuser.com/questions/193368/what-are-default-system-path-settings-on-windows-7-64bit has a slightly different one to the one you state, e.g. it has a WindowsLive directory, though you didn't give any critique of it – barlop Sep 23 '16 at 05:30
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Sorry, mine's no longer "plain jane" but I've removed the obvious added items (this is on 64 bit, remove the (x86) bits if you're on 32):

PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
Worthwelle
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AdamV
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There's really no such thing as a default Path; it changes as software and devices are installed/removed. However, at a bare minimum, your Path should contain:

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
jkmartindale
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Arman Rezakhani
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