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The Add-To-Path utility

Author: Fabrice Sanga


Simple utility to modify the PATH environment variable on Windows. It makes use of context menus to access the variable and change it. The shell objects involved are the directory and the directory background which keys are located under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory within the Windows registry.

The concept is simple, the environment variables are all located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment\Path when only available to the current user, and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\Path for system-wide variables. So the script reads and updates the Path value names at the user's wish. The script handles the changes to the context menus accordingly.

The utility is built in a way that makes the updates of system variables silent. This means the User Access Control (UAC) does not prompt for administrator privileges. It proceeds uninterrupted.

This is how it looks:

1. A folder that is not on the PATH variable



2. A folder that is on the PATH variable

The conditional display of the options is made using Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) on the implemented verbs. It helps include and exclude directories. Another project will work on context handlers. The canonical queries make extensive use of the System.ItemPathDisplay property that connects to the folder path. Just what is needed. And a chain of conjunction and disjunction associations does the trick. It is a complicated way to mean AND and OR operators.

3. The folder background



The utility allows to add a set of directories at the same time and the set is identified by a PathID (7z, git, ...). The checkmark notifies that all the folders in the set are on the PATH. Reset all reverts the environment variable to a predefined set of folders.

The usage of the script is as follows using a Windows Scripting Host, either cscript or wscript since it is all VBScript.

  • To set up the utility.
wscript.exe set-path.vbs /install
  • To register a set of directories
wscript.exe set-path.vbs PathID /install [/user:Path[;...]] /system:Path[;...]
wscript.exe set-path.vbs PathID /install /user:Path[;...] [/system:Path[;...]]

PathID      The set of paths identifiers
/user       Registers the set of directories as only 
            available to the current user
/system     Registers the set of directories as 
            available to every user
  • To add or remove a group of directories with a path identifier
wscript.exe set-path.vbs [-|+]PathID [/elevate]

+           Adds the set of directories to PATH
            the option is the default.
-           Removes the set of directories from PATH
/elevate    to run as administrator
  • To add or remove a group of directories with no path identifier
wscript.exe set-path.vbs -[FolderPath[;...]] [/path] [/elevate]
wscript.exe set-path.vbs [+][FolderPath[;...]] [/path[:{system|user}]] [/elevate]

FolderPath  The directory path to add or remove
  • To reset path
wscript.exe set-path.vbs /reset [/elevate]