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I don't know what changed about my settings, but recently the dialog box under Advanced System Settings -> Environmental Variables -> System Variables -> select Path -> Edit is not showing each location on a separate line like it used to be. My machine runs on Windows 10.

I would like to go from

https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/screenshot.4-2-650x187.png

to this

https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-24_11h02_18.png

RocinanteExp
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    Is your computer domain joined? What version of Windows 10 are you using? Have you installed all windows updates? – LPChip Mar 29 '21 at 19:33
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    I have the same, and it seemed that my path was literally just one row and as such it did not go into multi edit. Once I edited and typed ;test at the end, it went back to multiline, but now I can't seem to get the first path back, so copy what it was before doing this in case you have to get back to what it was before. – LPChip Mar 30 '21 at 20:45

3 Answers3

2

If I follow these steps, I get to the expected dialog

  1. Click Start
  2. Type environment variables
  3. Select enter image description here
  4. Select Environment Variables from the System Properties dialog
  5. Find Path in the System Variables section enter image description here
  6. Click Edit... with Path highlighted in the table of System Variables This results in the below enter image description here

An alternative solution is to run $env:Path -split ';' in PowerShell, which will return a list of environment Path variables.

spikey_richie
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    It doesn't do this on my end. My computer is domain joined and as such I have extra buttons about Active Directory. I have a feeling this has something to do with it. – LPChip Mar 29 '21 at 19:25
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    My machine is on a domain, but I am a local admin. It could be priveledges related... – spikey_richie Mar 29 '21 at 19:26
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    I'm local admin on my end too. So we can rule that out then. Could also be a windows update that changes this... dunno. I get what you see in the first link of OP with 2 buttons extra: `Search in Active Directory...` and `Search in file...` – LPChip Mar 29 '21 at 19:27
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    I've added an alternative, which is a PowerShell command. – spikey_richie Mar 29 '21 at 19:29
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    Which version of Windows 10 are you using? Win10 x64 v20H2 or any other? I am running Win10 x64 v1909 – LPChip Mar 29 '21 at 19:30
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    v1909 build 18363.1440 – spikey_richie Mar 29 '21 at 19:31
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    v1909 build 18363.1316 here. Interesting. I see the same window on my server, Windows Server 2016. Also one line. Still think it has something to do with being domain joined. – LPChip Mar 29 '21 at 19:32
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There are two known Windows bugs that prevent the multi-line display of the PATH:

  1. If the first character of the PATH is %, except when this is %SYSTEMROOT% (link)
  2. If the PATH is malformed, for example if the separator is not ;

If these conditions do not apply to your problem, then you might have a Windows 10 corruption that you should check using SFC and DISM.

For desperate cases, an alternative software is the free System Path Commander.
Although an old product, I tested and it still works on Windows 10.

enter image description here

harrymc
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    Running C:\WINDOWS\system32\SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe on my end gives me the one liner, not the multi-edit tool. So the way you access it does not seem to matter. Either on your system it has the multi-line or the single-line edit window. – LPChip Mar 29 '21 at 20:39
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    @LPChip: Which Windows version? – harrymc Mar 30 '21 at 15:26
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    I run Windows 10 x64 Professional 1909 build 18363.1316. Spikey Richy runs the same, only a build newer, and he has the multiple rows view. So build is not a factor it seems. – LPChip Mar 30 '21 at 16:20
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    @LPChip: Is the first character of your PATH variable the `%`? If yes, rearrange so it's not the first and try again. – harrymc Mar 30 '21 at 19:15
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    Its not, but you made me look closely to my path and I discovered its a weird path, so I edited it, added a ; test to it and now its multiline – LPChip Mar 30 '21 at 20:43
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    Ah ha, so it's caused by malformed PATH. I'll add it to my answer. – harrymc Mar 30 '21 at 20:49
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I had the same problem as you and I didn't realize it until this question. I did some investigating and it turns out that the following is true:

If your Path environmental variable actually only contains one path, it is showing the single-line edit control. If it contains a ; which means there are multiple parameters, then it treats it as multi-line and the dialogue box changes to what you expect to see.

For me to get the multi-line box, all I have to do is append a ; at the end. If your current path contains invalid characters, the current path will be hidden and only one empty line is shown instead. The control does give a button called Edit Text to restore it back to a single line edit control, so you can get back to what it was.

spikey_richie
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LPChip
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