Set PSModulePath Environment Variable with PowerShell in Windows 10

Question

I don't understand this. So currently my system environment variable named "PSModulePath" looks like this:

%ProgramFiles%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules

Now observe the following PowerShell script:

$envarname = "PSModulePath"
$envar = (get-item env:$envarname).Value
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($envarname, $envar + ";C:\Expedited", "Machine")

All it should be doing is adding the path "C:\Expedited" to the PSModulesPath environment variable, right? Well, after running this script as administrator, the PSModulePath environment variable changes into this:

C:\Users\Username\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules;C:\Expedited

Notice how:

1. There were originally two paths, each of which contained percentage signs (variables) in the original, but afterward they all changed directly into hard-coded paths.
2. The "C:\Users\Username\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules" path sprung out of nowhere (it wasn't in the original!)

I don't have any idea why either of these two things happened. When adding a path to this variable, I would like to keep it as close to the original as possible, not make all these other changes. Is there any way to preserve the percentage signs that were lost? How do I edit this environment variable correctly from within PowerShell?

Answer 1

PowerShell - Get OS Environmental Variables without Expanding

You can use the Get-Item cmdlet with the -path parameter and then pass that the path of the registry key containing the PSModulePath environmental variable.

You can then use the RegistryKey.GetValue Method along with DoNotExpandEnvironmentNames to get the string value of the PSModulePath environmental variable without expanding it.

---

PowerShell

$envarname = "PSModulePath"
$regkey    = Get-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"
$envar     = $regkey.GetValue($envarname, "", "DoNotExpandEnvironmentNames")
ECHO $envar

Note: You will want to be sure you run this from administrator elevated PowerShell command prompt or ISE screen for it to work correctly.

---

Further Resources

• HowTo: Set an Environment Variable in Windows - Command Line and Registry

  The location of the user variables in the registry is: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment. The location of the system variables in the registry is:

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

  When setting environment variables through the registry, they will not recognized immediately. One option is to log out and back in again. However, we can avoid logging out if we send a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message, which is just another line when doing this programatically, however if doing this on the command line it is not as straightforward.

• Get-Item

• RegistryKey.GetValue Method

  Retrieves the value associated with the specified name and retrieval options. If the name is not found, returns the default value that you provide.

• RegistryKey.GetValue Method (String, Object, RegistryValueOptions)

  Use this overload to specify special processing of the retrieved value. For example, you can specify RegistryValueOptions.DoNotExpandEnvironmentNames when retrieving a registry value of type RegistryValueKind.ExpandString to retrieve the string without expanding embedded environment variables.

Answer 2

Environment variables expansion has been tackled in other answers, but as to why "C:\Users\Username\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules" appears out of nowhere:

PSModulePath is a tricky beast. It does not act as others environment variables.

Outside of Powershell, like any other environment variable, if it exists both in the user's and the machine's environment, the machine's one is discarded.

But inside of Powershell, PSModulePath is a concatenation: the user one + the computer one. (A bit like "Path", but funnily enough, "Path" works the other way round: computer THEN user).

The default machine PSModulePath is "%ProgramFiles%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;%SystemRoot%\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\Modules". If you define a machine PSModulePath that does not contain those two paths, Powershell automatically adds them.

(There are two paths because the modules in %SystemRoot% are compatible with both 32 and 64 bits version of Powershell, whereas those in %ProgramFiles% are not (the trick being that %ProgramFiles% resolves to "Program Files (x86)" for the 32 bits version).)

There is a default PSModulePath for the user too, and it's %USERDOC%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules. But it would be too simple if it acted as its machine counterpart: if the user PSModulePath is not defined, then from within Powershell, its value is set to %USERDOC%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules, that's your 'it comes out of nowhere'.

Now if PSModulePath is defined for the user, its value is just what is defined, and %USERDOC%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules is not added.

I don't know if I'm clear. But I've been bitten by a PSModule problem recently, and I can't seem to find that technical information anywhere.

(Final note: I won't give the details, but all I wrotehere is valid fo Windos Powershell only (v5). Powershell7 adds new paths.)

Answer 3

You are doing extra steps that are not really needed for your end goal. Just use the default as shown in the MS guidance.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_environment_variables?view=powershell-6

So, based on the above article, you should only need that last example, or just one line, by using the built-in default / automatic environment variables.

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PSModulePath", $Env:PSModulePath + ";C:\Expedited","Machine")

Answer 4

The environment settings are available in control panel

1. click start
2. Type "environment"
3. Select either "Edit system environment variables" or "Edit environment variables for your account"
4. select PSModulePath and click "Edit" and "New"
5. Type or paste the path you need. (Had to add %UserProfile%\OneDrive\WindowsPowerShell\Modules to make sure the modules in my OneDrive backed documents folder got included).

After this log off and on to have the settings catch.