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I just found out that my PATH system variable in Windows is nearly empty (it has only the path to the ExtFS tool - I installed that one recently , and I'm guessing it overwrote the Path instead of appending to it). I came across this answer on searching, but I seem to have no previous versions or restore points to recover from (the Open button has no arrow mark next to it either).

I had quite a bunch of programs in PATH, and I'd hate to have to find them out one by one by encountering weird errors every now and then. Is there a way of restoring the PATH variable in this case? Any other place that this information is stored in?

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Sundar R
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  • If you have no restore points then your only choice is to install the software that added those variables to the path again. – Ramhound Feb 20 '15 at 11:57
  • @Ramhound I was afraid of that, thanks. I'm considering writing a script that traverses the "Program Files" folders and creates a PATH value pointing to all programs' paths, but `./bin` subfolders and such idiosyncracies present a nuisance. – Sundar R Feb 20 '15 at 15:48
  • There is a limit to the length of the PATH variable. You should only add those you actually need. – Ramhound Feb 20 '15 at 16:25

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I had the same pb after installing oracle,it also overwrote all the strings in the system path and since I have no restore point F reinstalled Windows 10 and it didnt work,Finally I just uninstalled oracle and everything came back.

salah
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  • Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does **not** answer the original question. OP has not said he is using Oracle. – DavidPostill Jan 15 '17 at 19:18
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    It might have been a relevant answer if the same behaviour had occurred due to installing Oracle instead of ExtFS, since the basic problem is similar, but the rest of the answer doesn't make sense. @salah Did you reinstall Windows 10 after you found the PATH nearly emptied? If so, how could you then go back and uninstall Oracle? And I find it hard to believe that Oracle stored up the PATH during its installation, saved that information for use during uninstallation, and restored the value during uninstall. That's the only way "everything came back" could work, but it sounds unlikely. – Sundar R May 08 '18 at 10:55