Is there a convenient way to edit PATH in Windows 7?

Question

I do not understand why Windows 7 is still adopting this stuffy dialog box? I feel uncomfortable when editing and looking-up a path in this narrow text box.

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Is there a convenient way to edit PATH in Windows 7? One item per row for example.

You need to define "convenient". The dialog works fine for adding to the `PATH` (just append it); adding other envars; and deleting envars. In your case, you could copy the string to Notepad or Notepad++, edit it, and then paste it back. Its as simple and convenient as CTRL + C and CTRL + V (that's what I do). — jww, Aug 12 '14 at 01:48
@Chris2357: using setx for the path is problematic. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19287379/how-do-i-add-to-the-windows-path-variable-using-setx-having-weird-problems — El Ronaldo, Sep 19 '14 at 17:25
Windows 8 now too of course. Fingers crossed for Windows 10. — user74094, Feb 24 '15 at 22:10
This doesn't deserve to be an answer, but I made this gist: https://gist.github.com/examinedliving/6251286 that splits the output of the `path` variable (or any other environmental variable) into seperate lines for easy viewing from the command line. Makes it much easier to see what needs to be edited. — dgo, Sep 16 '15 at 03:40
@user74094: **Microsoft has delivered this feature** in Windows 10 preview build 10565, release build 10586: http://www.geek.com/microsoft/microsoft-finally-makes-the-windows-environment-variable-editor-usable-1637831/ — bwDraco, Nov 15 '15 at 09:05
This is a great question; that stuffy box also seems to have a character limit which can prevent you from making the modifications you want. — rkagerer, Jan 31 '18 at 21:57

score 139 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

139

There is always the Rapid Environment Editor which claims full support for all major OS versions, including 64-bit.

Editable tree

Show environment variables and values as an editable tree.

Portable mode

RapidEE doesn't require installation and could be run as a "portable application". View details.

There is also the older (but still useful) and more light-weight Path Editor. (Note that the site is dead as of 2015-08-07, but still exists as an archive.org snapshot from 2013-03-27 — direct link to the installer). It works just fine on Windows 7 and, though it comes only as an installer, also works as a portable/stand-alone executable if you extract it.

Path Editor is a small utility that makes path management very straightforward with its intuitive user interface and drag-and-drop simplicity. Path Editor can clean your path of missing and duplicate entries with a single click of the mouse.

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

Community

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answered Jun 16 '11 at 08:35

Mokubai

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Although it's perhaps not totally clear from the REE screen shot, REE can edit individual %PATH% entries (move up/down, highlight missing, add/delete), not just treating it as a string. Really nice app! – GaryO Jan 31 '13 at 13:41
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PathEditor link is obsolete. Page on SoftPedia is a link farm which is unable to download PathEditor. – Dims Jun 06 '13 at 10:27
@Dims This is the current link to [Path Editor](https://patheditor2.codeplex.com/) – MarianD Apr 15 '17 at 15:21
@MarianD, that’s actually a different program altogether, described in user2496012’s answer (#615584). I think it was written to be a spiritual successor of sorts, but it's definitely not the same. The "Path Editor" (with a space) linked in this answer was originally written by Redfern Software in 2012, and although it's showing its age, it's still my favorite of the bunch simply because it's the most light-weight option that allows pasting paths from the clipboard. IIRC, very few of the others support that functionality. – Mark G. May 12 '17 at 18:02
@MarkG. - thanks for your notice! I downloaded it and I will it try. – MarianD May 13 '17 at 11:10
**Worth Mentioning** On Windows 7 x64 you also need to restart the windows for the changes to take effect. Shortcut would be to kill `Explorer.exe` and run it again. – Mehrad Oct 11 '17 at 02:01
@MarianD - your link takes us to a page that give some source code (dotnet?). No compiled exe available! – Gabriel Aug 31 '20 at 19:56
@Ultralisk, I just tried is, and the link is OK. In the left black box is a button “Download (v 1.7)” and it works — you will obtain the file `windowspatheditor-1.7.zip`, unpack it in some folder (preferable a new, empty one) and launch the `WindowsPathEditor.exe` from it. – MarianD Aug 31 '20 at 20:13
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@Ultralisk, oh, I tried another link, not mine. You are right, there is a new version of it, without executable. So I uploaded it [here](https://www.sendspace.com/file/jbp4t1) — it's just one executable file. Please download it within 30 days, then the file will be deleted. – MarianD Aug 31 '20 at 20:26
Thanks. I got the PathEditor which works really nice. I did also a VirusTotal check. All clean. https://web.archive.org/web/20130707030453/http://root.redfernplace.com/software/patheditor/SetupPathEditor.msi – Gabriel Sep 02 '20 at 07:47

score 48 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '13 at 11:12

48

Here's another Windows Path Editor:

(Disclaimer: I made this. It's open source, contributions welcome!)

answered Apr 17 '13 at 11:12

rix0rrr

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+1 Kudos for the "show problems" feature (should be "show potential problems"). It think the buttons actions should open dialogs to explain/ask-for-options/execute. The "Automatic" dialog could have a "maximum depth" (or a folder tree selector), and with a result list with checkboxes to add them to the user or sytem path. Ah, it's so easy to tell other people how things _should_be :-) – leonbloy May 30 '13 at 18:19
Although it shows many Windows defaults entries as "problematic" + it has no add button (drag&drop from Windows Explorer is fine, however, would really like an Add button in addition): I really liked it, thank you very much! – D.R. Jun 25 '14 at 11:31
This wants to completely wipe my User Path, presumably because it's all redundant with the System Path? Is that wise? – endolith Feb 27 '15 at 02:09
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Looked good, especially liked the "show problems" feature but it mangled and lost some paths when I saved :( – Empyrean Apr 26 '15 at 02:52
Crashes on startup with a "PathTooLongException was unhandled" message. Shame. From reading other threads I believe there is another windows API which can handle longer paths... just not the one used by Explorer (and this utility, evidently) – Greg Woods Jul 02 '15 at 16:15
Tip: to copy a path to the **clipboard**, right click | Open | click in the Windows Explorer address bar | Ctrl+C – Bob Stein Feb 18 '16 at 20:28
great utility - thanks. just used it to resolve this issue: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/36777236/running-app-engine-local-development-server-from-command-prompt-v1-9-36-goog/36777360#36777360 – tom Apr 22 '16 at 18:08
great util, thanks! It's just missing a 'refresh' button to reload after some external tool alters the path. I might contribute this feature if I find some time. – dss539 Aug 09 '16 at 17:28

score 20 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 15 '15 at 09:16

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This is implemented in the Windows 10 update released on November 2015.

I understand the question specifically calls for a Windows 7 solution. However, I've posted this answer for the benefit of users who happen to come across this question.

Windows 10, in preview build 10565 and release build 10586 (November 2015 update), has an overhauled environment variable editor which dramatically eases editing PATH.

answered Nov 15 '15 at 09:16

bwDraco

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<+> should increase font size... it doesn't. – Pacerier Jul 29 '17 at 07:55
Did you respond to the correct answer? This doesn't seem to be related to the question or answer. – bwDraco Jul 29 '17 at 14:11
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Wow, I had no clue Microsoft actually did this. I've used Windows all the way from Windows 95 so I was under the hard impression that the useless dialog box is never going to change. Thank you, this saves me from having to install another piece of software. – ADTC Oct 30 '17 at 23:55
Changes (still) only become effective not after editing, but after closing the `Environment Variables` window with OK (Windows 10 Home 1709). – handle Apr 09 '18 at 07:18

score 15 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 21 '13 at 22:52

15

Environment variables editor (Eveditor) is also worth mentioning. It is easy to use and completely free.

Note: Image shows the Path expanded which it did not do on Windows 7 elevated.

Eveditor

edited Jun 21 '13 at 22:52

micnolmad

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answered Apr 08 '12 at 08:17

Dmitry

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score 14 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 16 '11 at 16:49

14

For quick and dirty, copy and paste into Notepad then edit and copy and paste back.

answered Jun 16 '11 at 16:49

Chris Nava

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+1: Good idea, but it is still painful to scroll horizontally. – Second Person Shooter Jun 16 '11 at 16:52
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I agree. Depending on your editor of choice you could swap ";" for a return and do your editing then swap them back. Notepad will not do that substitution though. :-( – Chris Nava Jun 16 '11 at 17:41
@ChrisNava idd it will not. I would recommend Sublime Text 3 :) – Bruno Gelb Jun 23 '14 at 04:06
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Assuming you have gnutils `echo %path% | tr ; \n` is a command-line equivalent of Chris' suggestion. – RJFalconer Oct 24 '14 at 14:05
Copy/Paste to notepad++ because my path was long and notepad was messing up splitting the path in two lines pasting it back was trimming it. – zar Aug 31 '15 at 19:52
Assuming you don't have gnuutils, do as I do: `echo %path:;=◙%`. That is a newline character which you can type as ALT+10 (on the numpad). Or just copy-paste from here. – Amit Naidu Oct 15 '16 at 05:10
@ChrisNava if the path is too long (*say, 2226 characters*), it only pasted 2047 characters - I have a windows 7 PC - 64 bits - where I need to add `;%JAVA_HOME%\bin` at the end of the `Path` variable. – Mauricio Arias Olave Jan 20 '21 at 13:55
Update to my old comment about making path output readable, because `cmd` behavior has changed in Windows 10 : `echo %path:;=◙% >con` – Amit Naidu Mar 12 '21 at 04:07

score 9 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 31 '15 at 05:51

9

you might consider this https://patheditor2.codeplex.com/ It does not depend on .Net bloat nor MFC; pure Win32; binary size is less than 200kb. No installation is required and it is a standalone executable. If it matters, it is open source

edited Jul 31 '15 at 05:51

wordsforthewise

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answered Jul 04 '13 at 15:17

user2496012

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I like this best because it is standalone, quick, and pretty easy--but there's no copy-paste of file paths or drag-n-drop yet. – wordsforthewise Jul 31 '15 at 02:11
Simple and does what it claims. No. 1! – Ghasan Apr 07 '16 at 02:43
Look like there's a convenient [github repo right there](https://github.com/Alorel/patheditor2-mirror). – antogerva Aug 18 '18 at 23:23

score 8 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 22 '14 at 04:08

There's a pretty good open source CLI tool called pathed. Usage patterns are like so:

C:\Projects\2010\GSharpTools_Setup\bin>pathed /?
PATHED - Version 3.2
Freeware written by Gerson Kurz (http://p-nand-q.com)

USAGE: PATHED.EXE [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
      /MACHINE: print machine PATH
         /USER: print user PATH
          /ADD: add variable at the head
       /APPEND: add variable at the tail
       /REMOVE: remove path / index
         /SLIM: strip duplicate vars
          /ENV: environment variable, defaults to PATH

C:\Projects\2010\GSharpTools_Setup\bin>pathed
PATHED - Version 3.2
Freeware written by Gerson Kurz (http://p-nand-q.com)

00 C:\Perl\site\bin
01 C:\Perl\bin
02 C:\Windows\system32
03 C:\Windows
04 C:\Windows\System32\Wbem
05 C:\Python26
06 C:\Tools
07 C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
08 C:\Program Files (x86)\TortoiseSVN\bin
09 C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin
10 C:\Program Files (x86)\doxygen\bin
11 C:\Program Files (x86)\WinMerge
12 C:\Program Files (x86)\Subversion\bin
13 C:\Program Files (x86)\p-nand-q.com\GSharpTools [INVALID]
14 C:\Program Files (x86)\p-nand-q.com\pserv2 [INVALID]
15 C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenVPN\bin
16 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5
17 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
18 C:\Program Files (x86)\Scintilla Text Editor
19 C:\Program Files\7-Zip
20 C:\Program Files (x86)\PostgreSQL\8.4\bin
21 C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\bin
22 C:\Program Files (x86)\IZArc
; pathed /REMOVE "%CD%"
; pathed /APPEND "%CD%"
; pathed /MACHINE
; and so on.

You'll need to run it as Administrator for the changes to take affect, though.

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 10 '14 at 14:30

3

A quick and easy way to edit PATH from the command line:

C:\WINDOWS>setx PATH "PATH;C:\some_new_path"

This will update the PATH by appending the new path to the existing path value. Typing the following command will print the new PATH in all future CMD windows; NOT in the current CMD window:

C:\WINDOWS>PATH

Typing the following will give you a list of all the environment variables:

C:\WINDOWS>set

answered Jul 10 '14 at 14:30

ChrisAddams

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Warning: this method seems to limit paths to 1024 characters. If your path is already longer, it will simply truncate the end of your path, leaving you with a broken state. – Neil Dec 03 '15 at 20:30

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

1

Solution for Windows 7:

download and install AutoHotKey
copy this script to somewhere on your system: SysEnv.ahk
Right-click the SysEnv.ahk file you just created, and choose "Compile Script"
Right-click the SysEnv.exe file that was just created, and choose "Run as Administrator"
Use the app to edit the PATH, e.g.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Community

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answered May 21 '18 at 05:32

roblogic

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 13 '16 at 09:02

0

Here is an Online Tool for editing windows path, if you don't want to install software.

answered Jul 13 '16 at 09:02

Daniel Hári

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The link is broken, use this one on github [Line Splitter](https://vikcch.github.io/line-splitter/) – vik Sep 21 '20 at 20:45
Please read [How do I recommend software](https://meta.superuser.com/questions/5329/how-do-i-recommend-software-in-my-answers/5330#5330) for some tips as to how you should go about recommending software. You should provide at least a link, some additional information about the software itself, and how it can be used to solve the problem in the question. – DavidPostill Apr 23 '22 at 17:51

Is there a convenient way to edit PATH in Windows 7?

10 Answers10

This is implemented in the Windows 10 update released on November 2015.

Solution for Windows 7:

Linked