Powershell function to add system path

 

Powershell function to add system path

Was automating some installs and noted that powershell does not have a built-in function to add path to the system path.
It was an easy fix - just use [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable function.

function AddSystemPaths([array] $PathsToAdd) {

  $VerifiedPathsToAdd = ""

  foreach ($Path in $PathsToAdd) {

    if ($Env:Path -like "*$Path*") {

       echo " Path to $Path already added"

    }

    else {

      $VerifiedPathsToAdd += ";$Path";echo " Path to $Path needs to be added"

    }

  }

  if ($VerifiedPathsToAdd -ne "") {

    echo "Adding paths: $VerifiedPathsToAdd"

    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $Env:Path + "$VerifiedPathsToAdd","Machine")

    echo "Note: The new path does NOT take immediately in running processes. Only new processes will see new path."

  }

}

 

Use example:

PS> AddSystemPaths ("C:\Program Files\sd","c:\tools")
  Path to C:\Program Files\sd already added
  Path to c:\tools needs to be added
Adding paths: ;c:\tools
Note: The new path does NOT take immediately in running processes. Only new processes will see new path.
PS>

Published Friday, December 12, 2008 5:14 PM by ayeltsov

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