extending PATH on Windows?

[Ulli Horlacher]

eryk sun <eryksun at gmail.com> wrote:

> > At startup cmd.exe runs a script which is defined by the registry variable
> > AutoRun in "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor"
> >
> > I set this variable with:
> >
> >   rc = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor"
> >   ar = "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\autorun.cmd"
> >   system('reg add "%s" /v AutoRun /d "%s"' % (rc,ar))
> >
> > and write into autorun.cmd:
> >
> > set PATH=%PATH%;%USERPROFILE%\Desktop
> 
> The AutoRun command (it's a command line, not a script path)

A script path is a legal command line, too.


> gets run for every instance of cmd.exe

Yes, this is the intended trick!


> Your batch file needs to set a sentinel variable such as YOUR_APP_AUTORUN
> that, if set, makes the batch file exit without extending PATH if it was
> already done.

Having "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop" twice in PATH is not a problem.


> Also, you can't just overwrite a user's AutoRun command like that. If
> a command currently exists, you have to concatenate your command with
> the existing command using parentheses and the "&" operator, e.g.
> (previous_command) & (your_command).

Good hint, thanks!


> Use winreg for this.

system("reg ...") works for me and is easier :-)

-- 
Ullrich Horlacher              Server und Virtualisierung
Rechenzentrum IZUS/TIK         E-Mail: horlacher at tik.uni-stuttgart.de
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