JSI Tip 7603. Pathman.exe is a command-line tool that adds or removes components from the System and User paths.

In tip 4263, I scripted SetPath.bat to add a folder to the Windows 2000 / Windows XP PATH, in a batch?

Pathman.exe is a Resource Kit tool that you can download, that will add or remove components from the System or User path.

Windows 2000

The http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/existing/pathman-o.asp page contains:

"This command-line tool adds or removes components from system or user paths. PathMan can modify any number of paths in a single call, and it includes error checking that can handle path abnormalities such as repeated entries, missing entries, and adjacent semicolons.

Windows 2000 manages two types of paths: the current user path and the system path. Windows 2000 keeps a separate user path for every user on a system, but there is only one global system path. When a user logs on to a computer running Windows 2000, the user and system paths are combined to create the user's full path. For backward compatibility, Windows 2000 also loads path information from old autoexec.bat files in the root directory.

Users who are not administrators can modify their own user path. To modify the system path, the user must have administrator privileges. PathMan does not manage information contained in old autoexec.bat files."

Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

See What are the free Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools?

Usage

When you type pathman /? in a CMD.EXE prompt, you receive:

USAGE:        /as path[;path[;path ...]]                Adds the semicolon-separated paths to the system path.        /au path[;path[;path ...]]                Adds the semicolon-separated paths to the user path.        /rs path[;path[;path ...]]                Removes the semicolon-separated paths from the system path.        /ru path[;path[;path ...]]                Removes the semicolon-separated paths from the user path.