Microsoft KB Archive/329308

= Environment Variable May Not Expand %APPDATA% to the Application Folder =

Article ID: 329308

Article Last Modified on 2/28/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional

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This article was previously published under Q329308



SYMPTOMS
If you add %APPDATA% to any user or system environment variable by using the following method, %APPDATA% may not be resolved to the appropriate user application data folder:
 * Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
 * On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
 * Add a new user or system environment variable named PATH. Set the Variable value entry to %APPDATA%.
 * Apply the settings.

If you then start a command session (Cmd.exe) and check the PATH environment variable by using the set path command, %APPDATA% may not be expanded to the appropriate user application folder. Instead, you see &quot;%APPDATA%.&quot;

Problem example:   C:\ >set PATH PATH=%APPDATA% Working example:   C:\ >set PATH PATH=&quot;C:\Documents and Settings\\Application&quot;

If %APPDATA% is not resolved correctly, and you try to start a program that is located in the user application folder, the program does not start because the program cannot be located in the path.



CAUSE
This behavior is caused by a problem in Shell32.dll.



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use the following method to set the environment variable:
 * 1) Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
 * 2) In the left pane, right-click Computer Management (Local), and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Advanced tab.
 * 4) Under Environment variables, click Settings.
 * 5) Add a new user or system environment variable named PATH, and set the Variable value entry to %APPDATA%.

You can use this method to set any user or system environment variable.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: windir username

Keywords: kbprb KB329308

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