Windows 7 cmd paths are different

Question

I am trying to change the System paths on my computer.

For some reason when I open cmd via run my paths are correct as expected.

However when I Shift+Right Click in a directory + open cmd window here I get a old/different path that doesn't even show in the Path variable on neither USER or SYSTEM.

Example:

CMD from RUN:

C:\Users\PERSON>python
Python 2.7.7 (default, Jun  1 2014, 14:17:13) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

C:\Users\PERSON>pip
Usage:
pip <command> [options]

CMD from shift+right Click:

C:\Users\PERSON>python
'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Users\PERSON>pip
'pip' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

I have changed the paths in both System and User to see if there was some odd issue there but the issue persists.

If you need any more info let me know.

Edit: I have restarted all command prompts in-between changes to the path.

Edit 2: Here are the paths

CMD from RUN:

C:\Users\PERSON>echo %path%

C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;
C:\Windows\system32;
C:\Windows;
C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;
C:\EASE\Cygwin\Bin;
C:\bin;
C:\bin\Hardware;
C:\bin\OpenCV;
C:\bin\Qt;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin;
C:\Python27\;
C:\Python27\Scripts;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\;
C:\Program Files\SlikSvn\bin;
C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\4.7 2012q4\bin;

CMD from shift+right Click:

C:\Users\PERSON\Desktop>echo %path%
C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;
C:\Windows\system32;
C:\Windows;
C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;
C:\bin;
C:\bin\Hardware;
C:\bin\OpenCV;
C:\bin\Qt;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\;
C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU ToolsARM Embedded\4.7 2012q4\bin;

Answer 1

After you change the path, you need to make sure to restart Explorer before attempting to open up all your terminals again. This way, the Explorer process takes in the new PATH and is able to transmit that new PATH to new programs that it executes.

Answer 2

When a process is started, by default the environment variables are copied from the parent process (who is making the request to create the new process) to the newly created process.

When you use Run method, the explorer.exe instance handling your desktop will create the cmd instance, but when you use the Shift+right click method, a different explorer instance, child of svchost.exe (child of services.exe, child of wininit.exe) will create the cmd instance.

If both explorer versions do not have the same environment blocks, the cmd instances will not have the same variables.

When the configuration of the environment variables is changed from system properties, the OS will send a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message to all top windows. The explorer instance handling the desktop will receive it and update its environment block, but the instance handling the file browsing (the one under svchost.exe) does not process the message (no, at this moment I don't know why) and its environment block is not updated (all this has been tested with sysinternal's ProcExp checking the processes environments).

How to solve? I don't know. Maybe (no, not tested, I don't have a compiler at hand now, just an idea) instead of using a HWND_BROADCAST to send the WM_SETTINGCHANGE message, a direct message to the file browser process could solve it (or not)

How to deal with it? Kill the explorer instance whose parent process is svchost.exe. When a new file browser is requested a new instance is started with the correct environment block.

For a rough approach, just to try, run from command line

wmic process where "name='explorer.exe' and CommandLine like '%/factory%'" call Terminate

to kill the file browser. When a new file browser is requested a new process will be created (now with the environment updated) and new cmd instances will see the changes.

Edited

After some tests with an api monitor, i have seen that the svchost.exe is creating the explorer process via a CreateProcessAsUserW api call. In this call, the lpEnvironment argument is not null (if it is null, the environment is copied from parent to child), so svchost.exe is creating the environment for the new process. But, what source is being used to create the new environment?

So, I directly change the variable in the registry (regedit) to ensure that no WM_SETTINGSCHANGE message is sent, killed the file browser explorer instance and create the two cmd instances. The result is

• Run method: the cmd instance does not see the changes. As there was not any message to the parent, its environment was not changed and the new started process inherits the unchanged version from the explorer.exe that handles the desktop.

• Shift+Click method: the changes in the registry are available.

So, svchost.exe is retrieving the information from the registry to create a environment block to pass to the newly created process.