Where are environment variables stored in the Windows Registry?

Brian_R_Bondy_3153 0
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I need to access an environment variable remotely. To do this, I think the best way is to read it from registry.

Where are environment variables stored in the Windows Registry?

registry environment-variables windows
4 Answers

Here's where they're stored on Windows XP through Windows Server 2012 R2:

User Variables

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment

System Variables

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
Scheffler_34890

There is a more efficient way of doing this in Windows 7. SETX is installed by default and supports connecting to other systems.

To modify a remote system's global environment variables, you would use

setx /m /s HOSTNAME-GOES-HERE VariableNameGoesHere VariableValueGoesHere

This does not require restarting Windows Explorer.

/M Specifies that the variable should be set in the system wide (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) environment. The default is to set the variable under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER environment.

/S system Specifies the remote system to connect to.

user_25162600

CMD:

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"
reg query HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment

PowerShell:

Get-Item "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"
Get-Item HKCU:\Environment

Powershell/.NET: (see EnvironmentVariableTarget Enum)

[System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariables([System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
[System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariables([System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)
user_5245040
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