how to get program files x86 env variable?
WindowsEnvironment VariablesWindows 7-X64Windows Problem Overview
I would like to know how I can display the location of Program Files (x86) in Command Prompt. I'm using Windows 7 64bit.
I've tried:
echo %programfiles(x86)% and echo %programfiles%.
Both of these output C:\Program Files
When I manually checked the registry,
HKLM/Software/microsoft/windows/currentversion,
the programfilesdir points to C:\Program Files and
HKLM/Software/WOW64/Microsoft/windows/currentversion,
the programfilesdir points to C:\Program Files (x86).
But, why am I always seeing C:\Program Files displayed?
Windows Solutions
Solution 1 - Windows
On a 64-bit machine running in 64-bit mode:
echo %programfiles%==>C:\Program Filesecho %programfiles(x86)%==>C:\Program Files (x86)
On a 64-bit machine running in 32-bit (WOW64) mode:
echo %programfiles%==>C:\Program Files (x86)echo %programfiles(x86)%==>C:\Program Files (x86)
On a 32-bit machine running in 32-bit mode:
echo %programfiles%==>C:\Program Filesecho %programfiles(x86)%==>%programfiles(x86)%
Solution 2 - Windows
Another relevant environment variable is:
%ProgramW6432%
So, on a 64-bit machine running in 32-bit (WOW64) mode:
> - echo %programfiles% ==> C:\Program Files (x86) > - echo %programfiles(x86)% ==> C:\Program Files (x86) > - echo %ProgramW6432% ==> C:\Program Files
From Wikipedia:
> The %ProgramFiles% variable points to the Program Files directory, > which stores all the installed programs of Windows and others. The > default on English-language systems is "C:\Program Files". In 64-bit > editions of Windows (XP, 2003, Vista), there are also > %ProgramFiles(x86)%, which defaults to "C:\Program Files (x86)", and > %ProgramW6432%, which defaults to "C:\Program Files". The > %ProgramFiles% itself depends on whether the process requesting the > environment variable is itself 32-bit or 64-bit (this is caused by > Windows-on-Windows 64-bit redirection).
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable
Solution 3 - Windows
On a Windows 64 bit machine, echo %programfiles(x86)% does print C:\Program Files (x86)
Solution 4 - Windows
On a 64-bit Windows system, the reading of the various environment variables and some Windows Registry keys is redirected to different sources, depending whether the process doing the reading is 32-bit or 64-bit.
The table below lists these data sources:
X = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
Y = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
Z = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
READING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES: Source for 64-bit process Source for 32-bit process
-------------------------------|----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------
%ProgramFiles% : X\ProgramW6432Dir X\ProgramFilesDir (x86)
%ProgramFiles(x86)% : X\ProgramFilesDir (x86) X\ProgramFilesDir (x86)
%ProgramW6432% : X\ProgramW6432Dir X\ProgramW6432Dir
%CommonProgramFiles% : X\CommonW6432Dir X\CommonFilesDir (x86)
%CommonProgramFiles(x86)% : X\CommonFilesDir (x86) X\CommonFilesDir (x86)
%CommonProgramW6432% : X\CommonW6432Dir X\CommonW6432Dir
%ProgramData% : Z\ProgramData Z\ProgramData
READING REGISTRY VALUES: Source for 64-bit process Source for 32-bit process
-------------------------------|----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------
X\ProgramFilesDir : X\ProgramFilesDir Y\ProgramFilesDir
X\ProgramFilesDir (x86) : X\ProgramFilesDir (x86) Y\ProgramFilesDir (x86)
X\ProgramFilesPath : X\ProgramFilesPath = %ProgramFiles% Y\ProgramFilesPath = %ProgramFiles(x86)%
X\ProgramW6432Dir : X\ProgramW6432Dir Y\ProgramW6432Dir
X\CommonFilesDir : X\CommonFilesDir Y\CommonFilesDir
X\CommonFilesDir (x86) : X\CommonFilesDir (x86) Y\CommonFilesDir (x86)
X\CommonW6432Dir : X\CommonW6432Dir Y\CommonW6432Dir
So for example, for a 32-bit process, the source of the data for the %ProgramFiles% and %ProgramFiles(x86)% environment variables is the Registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir (x86).
However, for a 64-bit process, the source of the data for the %ProgramFiles% environment variable is the Registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramW6432Dir ...and the source of the data for the %ProgramFiles(x86)% environment variable is the Registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir (x86)
Most default Windows installation put a string like C:\Program Files (x86) into the Registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir (x86) but this (and others) can be changed.
Whatever is entered into these Windows Registry values will be read by Windows Explorer into respective Environment Variables upon login and then copied to any child process that it subsequently spawns.
The registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesPath is especially noteworthy because most Windows installations put the string %ProgramFiles% into it, to be read by 64-bit processes. This string refers to the environment variable %ProgramFiles% which in turn, takes its data from the Registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramW6432Dir ...unless some program changes the value of this environment variable apriori.
I have written a small utility, which displays these environment variables for 64-bit and 32-bit processes. You can download it here.
The source code for VisualStudio 2017 is included and the compiled 64-bit and 32-bit binary executables are in the directories ..\x64\Release and ..\x86\Release, respectively.
Solution 5 - Windows
IMHO, one point that is missing in this discussion is that whatever variable you use, it is guaranteed to always point at the appropriate folder. This becomes critical in the rare cases where Windows is installed on a drive other than C:\