7
0
I installed Cygwin on my Windows XP machine. How can I add c:\cygwin\bin
to the %PATH%
in such a way that it persists?
My autoexec.bat
is empty, and I assume it's no longer the right place for that. Where's the best place to do this?
7
0
I installed Cygwin on my Windows XP machine. How can I add c:\cygwin\bin
to the %PATH%
in such a way that it persists?
My autoexec.bat
is empty, and I assume it's no longer the right place for that. Where's the best place to do this?
18
Right click on my computer and select properties. In the Advanced tab, there is a button called Environment Variables. The PATH
variable is in there, just add a semicolon and then the cygwin path to the end of the existing value, so it looks like this:
C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;...;c:\cygwin\bin
3
To add to your user profile path you can do the following from the command line using the setx
command which is built into Windows Vista and above. In earlier versions of Windows you can use the Windows Resource Kit to get it.
Say Cygwin in installed in c:\cygwin
, do:
SETX path c:\cygwin;c:\cygwin\bin;%path%
Or for you, as user only:
SETX -m path c:\cygwin;c:\cygwin\bin;%path%
It's probably better practice to add to the end of the existing path, not the start. If there are conflicts you probably want the original Windows binaries to run, to prevent issues with other programs that expect that. – Bob – 2012-10-21T03:02:20.377
Actually @bob in case I disagree. Cygwin is a environment on top of windows (essentially a shell), in this case I think it would be better to run the windows binaries second. In the case of other programs that are non 'replacing windows behaviours' then your suggestion hold water. – Preet Sangha – 2012-10-21T07:05:46.690
If you want to run cygwin binaries before Windows executables within the cygwin shell, you could modify the path in cygwin's .bashrc
. I personally consider it safer to keep Windows' own binaries at the beginning of the path for any other Windows applications or tools, to reduce possible issues from conflicts. But that's the user's choice, in the end. – Bob – 2012-10-21T07:24:43.833
1You can also get to the Environment Variables by searching for "path" in the Start Menu. – Austin Moore – 2014-07-14T15:00:39.210
3It's the Advanced tab. – random – 2009-08-22T07:35:28.793
Thx I just went blank on that and haven't got my windows pc switched on. – Col – 2009-08-22T07:48:42.370