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• 32 Bit Environment Extender
• Add to PATH Environment Variable
• Assigning a System Variable to a Path
• Call Function and Environment Path
• Changing the Path in WinNT
• Detecting Search Drive Mappings
• DOS Environment Variables
• Edit of an Environment Variable
• Environment Issue from PopMenu
• Environment Settings
• Environment Variables Across DOS Sessions
• EnvironmentSet UDF
• Get More Environment Space
• Get Next Available Drive Letter
• Getting the Temp Directory
• Immediate User Environment Change in NT
• List All Environment Variables
• NT Environment variables
• PATH Information
• RunEnviron and File not Found or WinExec Error
• Set System Environment Variable
• Setting the Environment in Windows 95
• Unexpected Error - Quitting - Using RunEnviron
• Win95 and environment variables
• Win95 environment after Winset
• Win95 Environment and App Spawns
• Windows Environment Variables

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Setting DOS Environment Variables and Path

Keywords:	 DOS environment variables RunEnviron  winset envars.exe

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Question:

Is there a possibility to use enviroment variables in WINDOWS and DOS? We've got an application that needs an environment variable in the autoexec.bat but i'm looking for a possible solution calling the application with a variable from a Winbatch script. EnvironSet and RunEnviron don't work.

Answer:

It depends. What version of Windows are you running? What environment variable do you want to set?

There is a Microsoft utility that can be used to set a global DOS variable in Windows 95. The utility is called "WinSet" and it's in a self-extracting archive file named "envars.exe". It's used almost identically to the DOS Set command, except it changes the master DOS environment in Windows 95.

If it is a DOS program under 32 bit Windows, one trick is to pass parameters to a BAT file that sets the environment variable THEN runs the DOS program (in the SAME bat file)

To run DOS applications from WinBatch and to alter the path for DOS programs, you'll need to set up a batch file, and launch it with the WIL Run command.

Assuming the case where one wished to run "command.com" with the path "c:\special", a batch file as shown below will work, along with passing all the information required as parameters in the WIL Run command:

rem DOPATH.BAT file
		SET PATH=%1
		ECHO %PATH%
		PAUSE
rem The following line runs whatever DOS exe you want, followed by params:
		%2   %3	  %4   %5   %6	 %7   %8   %9

WIL Run Command:

		Run("dopath.bat", "c:\special  command.com")

As long as your environment size is large enough, this should work fine. Also take a look at your PIF settings for setting the environment space.

If your App is a DOS App, then the EnvironSet command will not show up in the DOS environment, so that is why you cannot use the EnvironSet function to set DOS environment variables. (Windows keep two copies of the environment, one for DOS and one for Windows)

Additional Notes:

In your DOS batch file, after setting the environment variable, you could also add a line to do a DOS Call on a second batch file, to launch your DOS application. In this case, your DOS app would inherit your environment settings for the local session.

The RunEnviron function CAN ONLY SET THE ENVIRONMENT AND RUN WINDOWS PROGRAMS. IT CANNOT RUN DOS PROGRAMS.

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Article ID:   W12915

Filename:   DOS Environment Variables.txt

File Created: 1999:04:15:16:50:30

Last Updated: 1999:04:15:16:50:30