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I do not understand why Windows 7 is still adopting this stuffy dialog box? I feel uncomfortable when editing and looking-up a path in this narrow text box.

enter image description here

Is there a convenient way to edit PATH in Windows 7? One item per row for example.

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7
  • You need to define "convenient". The dialog works fine for adding to the PATH (just append it); adding other envars; and deleting envars. In your case, you could copy the string to Notepad or Notepad++, edit it, and then paste it back. Its as simple and convenient as <kbd>CTRL</kbd> + <kbd>C</kbd> and <kbd>CTRL</kbd> + <kbd>V</kbd> (that's what I do).
    – jww
    Commented Aug 12, 2014 at 1:48
  • @Chris2357: using setx for the path is problematic. See stackoverflow.com/questions/19287379/…
    – El Ronaldo
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 17:25
  • 1
    Windows 8 now too of course. Fingers crossed for Windows 10.
    – user74094
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 22:10
  • 2
    @user74094: Microsoft has delivered this feature in Windows 10 preview build 10565, release build 10586: geek.com/microsoft/…
    – bwDraco
    Commented Nov 15, 2015 at 9:05
  • 2
    This is a great question; that stuffy box also seems to have a character limit which can prevent you from making the modifications you want.
    – rkagerer
    Commented Jan 31, 2018 at 21:57

10 Answers 10

Reset to default
139

There is always the Rapid Environment Editor which claims full support for all major OS versions, including 64-bit.

Editable tree

Show environment variables and values as an editable tree.

Portable mode

RapidEE doesn't require installation and could be run as a "portable application". View details.

rapid environment editor shot

There is also the older (but still useful) and more light-weight Path Editor. (Note that the site is dead as of 2015-08-07, but still exists as an archive.org snapshot from 2013-03-27 — direct link to the installer). It works just fine on Windows 7 and, though it comes only as an installer, also works as a portable/stand-alone executable if you extract it.

Path Editor is a small utility that makes path management very straightforward with its intuitive user interface and drag-and-drop simplicity. Path Editor can clean your path of missing and duplicate entries with a single click of the mouse.

path editor shot

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  • 5
    Although it's perhaps not totally clear from the REE screen shot, REE can edit individual %PATH% entries (move up/down, highlight missing, add/delete), not just treating it as a string. Really nice app!
    – GaryO
    Commented Jan 31, 2013 at 13:41
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    PathEditor link is obsolete. Page on SoftPedia is a link farm which is unable to download PathEditor.
    – Dims
    Commented Jun 6, 2013 at 10:27
  • @Dims This is the current link to Path Editor
    – MarianD
    Commented Apr 15, 2017 at 15:21
  • @MarianD, that’s actually a different program altogether, described in user2496012’s answer (#615584). I think it was written to be a spiritual successor of sorts, but it's definitely not the same. The "Path Editor" (with a space) linked in this answer was originally written by Redfern Software in 2012, and although it's showing its age, it's still my favorite of the bunch simply because it's the most light-weight option that allows pasting paths from the clipboard. IIRC, very few of the others support that functionality.
    – Mark G.
    Commented May 12, 2017 at 18:02
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    @Ultralisk, oh, I tried another link, not mine. You are right, there is a new version of it, without executable. So I uploaded it here — it's just one executable file. Please download it within 30 days, then the file will be deleted.
    – MarianD
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 20:26
48

Here's another Windows Path Editor:

Screenshot

(Disclaimer: I made this. It's open source, contributions welcome!)

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  • 4
    +1 Kudos for the "show problems" feature (should be "show potential problems"). It think the buttons actions should open dialogs to explain/ask-for-options/execute. The "Automatic" dialog could have a "maximum depth" (or a folder tree selector), and with a result list with checkboxes to add them to the user or sytem path. Ah, it's so easy to tell other people how things _should_be :-)
    – leonbloy
    Commented May 30, 2013 at 18:19
  • Although it shows many Windows defaults entries as "problematic" + it has no add button (drag&drop from Windows Explorer is fine, however, would really like an Add button in addition): I really liked it, thank you very much!
    – D.R.
    Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 11:31
  • This wants to completely wipe my User Path, presumably because it's all redundant with the System Path? Is that wise?
    – endolith
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 2:09
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    Looked good, especially liked the "show problems" feature but it mangled and lost some paths when I saved :(
    – Empyrean
    Commented Apr 26, 2015 at 2:52
  • Crashes on startup with a "PathTooLongException was unhandled" message. Shame. From reading other threads I believe there is another windows API which can handle longer paths... just not the one used by Explorer (and this utility, evidently)
    – Greg Woods
    Commented Jul 2, 2015 at 16:15
21

This is implemented in the Windows 10 update released on November 2015.

I understand the question specifically calls for a Windows 7 solution. However, I've posted this answer for the benefit of users who happen to come across this question.

Windows 10, in preview build 10565 and release build 10586 (November 2015 update), has an overhauled environment variable editor which dramatically eases editing PATH.

New environment variable editor in Windows 10 update

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4
  • <ctrl><+> should increase font size... it doesn't.
    – Pacerier
    Commented Jul 29, 2017 at 7:55
  • Did you respond to the correct answer? This doesn't seem to be related to the question or answer.
    – bwDraco
    Commented Jul 29, 2017 at 14:11
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    Wow, I had no clue Microsoft actually did this. I've used Windows all the way from Windows 95 so I was under the hard impression that the useless dialog box is never going to change. Thank you, this saves me from having to install another piece of software.
    – ADTC
    Commented Oct 30, 2017 at 23:55
  • Changes (still) only become effective not after editing, but after closing the Environment Variables window with OK (Windows 10 Home 1709).
    – handle
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 7:18
16

Environment variables editor (Eveditor) is also worth mentioning. It is easy to use and completely free.

Note: Image shows the Path expanded which it did not do on Windows 7 elevated.

Eveditor

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15

For quick and dirty, copy and paste into Notepad then edit and copy and paste back.

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8
  • +1: Good idea, but it is still painful to scroll horizontally.
    – Display Name
    Commented Jun 16, 2011 at 16:52
  • 3
    I agree. Depending on your editor of choice you could swap ";" for a return and do your editing then swap them back. Notepad will not do that substitution though. :-(
    – Chris Nava
    Commented Jun 16, 2011 at 17:41
  • @ChrisNava idd it will not. I would recommend Sublime Text 3 :)
    – Bruno Gelb
    Commented Jun 23, 2014 at 4:06
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    Assuming you have gnutils echo %path% | tr ; \n is a command-line equivalent of Chris' suggestion.
    – RJFalconer
    Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 14:05
  • Copy/Paste to notepad++ because my path was long and notepad was messing up splitting the path in two lines pasting it back was trimming it.
    – zar
    Commented Aug 31, 2015 at 19:52
9

you might consider this https://patheditor2.codeplex.com/ It does not depend on .Net bloat nor MFC; pure Win32; binary size is less than 200kb. No installation is required and it is a standalone executable. If it matters, it is open source

screenshot

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3
  • I like this best because it is standalone, quick, and pretty easy--but there's no copy-paste of file paths or drag-n-drop yet.
    – wordsforthewise
    Commented Jul 31, 2015 at 2:11
  • Simple and does what it claims. No. 1!
    – Ghasan
    Commented Apr 7, 2016 at 2:43
  • Look like there's a convenient github repo right there.
    – antogerva
    Commented Aug 18, 2018 at 23:23
8

There's a pretty good open source CLI tool called pathed. Usage patterns are like so:

C:\Projects\2010\GSharpTools_Setup\bin>pathed /?
PATHED - Version 3.2
Freeware written by Gerson Kurz (http://p-nand-q.com)

USAGE: PATHED.EXE [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
      /MACHINE: print machine PATH
         /USER: print user PATH
          /ADD: add variable at the head
       /APPEND: add variable at the tail
       /REMOVE: remove path / index
         /SLIM: strip duplicate vars
          /ENV: environment variable, defaults to PATH

C:\Projects\2010\GSharpTools_Setup\bin>pathed
PATHED - Version 3.2
Freeware written by Gerson Kurz (http://p-nand-q.com)

00 C:\Perl\site\bin
01 C:\Perl\bin
02 C:\Windows\system32
03 C:\Windows
04 C:\Windows\System32\Wbem
05 C:\Python26
06 C:\Tools
07 C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
08 C:\Program Files (x86)\TortoiseSVN\bin
09 C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin
10 C:\Program Files (x86)\doxygen\bin
11 C:\Program Files (x86)\WinMerge
12 C:\Program Files (x86)\Subversion\bin
13 C:\Program Files (x86)\p-nand-q.com\GSharpTools [INVALID]
14 C:\Program Files (x86)\p-nand-q.com\pserv2 [INVALID]
15 C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenVPN\bin
16 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5
17 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
18 C:\Program Files (x86)\Scintilla Text Editor
19 C:\Program Files\7-Zip
20 C:\Program Files (x86)\PostgreSQL\8.4\bin
21 C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\bin
22 C:\Program Files (x86)\IZArc
; pathed /REMOVE "%CD%"
; pathed /APPEND "%CD%"
; pathed /MACHINE
; and so on.

You'll need to run it as Administrator for the changes to take affect, though.

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3

A quick and easy way to edit PATH from the command line:

C:\WINDOWS>setx PATH "PATH;C:\some_new_path"

This will update the PATH by appending the new path to the existing path value. Typing the following command will print the new PATH in all future CMD windows; NOT in the current CMD window:

C:\WINDOWS>PATH

Typing the following will give you a list of all the environment variables:

C:\WINDOWS>set
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  • 7
    Warning: this method seems to limit paths to 1024 characters. If your path is already longer, it will simply truncate the end of your path, leaving you with a broken state.
    – Neil
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 20:30
1

Solution for Windows 7:

  1. download and install AutoHotKey

  2. copy this script to somewhere on your system: SysEnv.ahk

  3. Right-click the SysEnv.ahk file you just created, and choose "Compile Script"

  4. Right-click the SysEnv.exe file that was just created, and choose "Run as Administrator"

  5. Use the app to edit the PATH, e.g. SysEnv AutoHotKey Window

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0

Here is an Online Tool for editing windows path, if you don't want to install software.

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2
  • 1
    The link is broken, use this one on github Line Splitter
    – vik
    Commented Sep 21, 2020 at 20:45
  • Please read How do I recommend software for some tips as to how you should go about recommending software. You should provide at least a link, some additional information about the software itself, and how it can be used to solve the problem in the question.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 23, 2022 at 17:51

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