13

What does %windir% stands for?

I am receiving a malware analysis report with things like %windir%\system32\catroot, %windir%\folder1\folder2 and I want to know what does it mean?

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    C:\WINDOWS is highly likely. ;)
    – Rajib
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 14:20
  • 7
    %windir% is an environment variable for the windows path so its just a 'shortcut' to C:\windows or wherever you installed windows...
    – CharlesH
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 14:21
  • 1
    -1 because Googling "What is %windir%?" gives you plenty of correct info in the first matches.
    – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 18:59
  • 3
    +1 because Googling "What is %windir%?" gives this question and answer without all the superfluous stuff on other results.
    – Adrian Carr
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 14:46
  • 2
    +1 because I think this site is exactly the right kind of place you should up on when googling this type of question.
    – Henrik
    Commented Apr 28, 2018 at 21:12

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
11

The Windows directory or SYSROOT. This corresponds to the %WINDIR% or %SYSTEMROOT% environment variables. A typical path is C:\Windows.

This variable points to the Windows directory (on Windows NT-based operating systems it is identical to the %SystemRoot% variable. If the system is on drive C:, then the default values are "C:\WINDOWS" on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.

For more info see Wikipedia's Environment Variables entry.

Improve this answer
8

Open a command prompt by clicking Start, typing cmd, then Enter. Type echo %windir%, then Enter, and the path should print to the screen. Usually C:\WINDOWS

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    WOW, thank you so much for posting this. There are many questions out there asking about what the various system variables are, and this is the first answer I have seen that tells you how to actually see what path the variable represents. echo %windir%. Now that I see it, I understand how simple it is, but I'm not a sys admin so I knew it had to be something easy, but wasn't sure what it was. Thanks again.
    – Travis Heeter
    Commented Dec 27, 2016 at 2:29

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .