My goal is to write a shell script that will ensure that a bunch of Windows 10 computers with Python freshly installed on them can run the 'python' command from a git-bash command line in Windows Terminal by having the script check the PATH environment variable and modify it if necessary.
More specifically, I want my script to check if the following three paths are part of each computer's PATH, and if they aren't already a part of it, edit the PATH so that it permanently contains them.
C:\Program Files\Python311
C:\Program Files\Python311\Scripts
C:\Users\ <localUser>\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python311\Scripts
What threw me off is that I noticed that the PATH variable that I get from the 'env' command on the git-bash command line is different from the PATH variable that I can see in Windows 10's control panel. I tried adding a junk path to PATH from the command line by typing
export PATH=/c/someNonexistentPath in git bash but it didn't change the PATH that I could see in the Windows 10 control panel. Moreover, I couldn't even see if it changed the PATH I get from running env on the command line because for some reason after you run any export command git-bash gets amnesia and refuses to recognize the env command until you start a new session of git-bash.
Shouldn't there only be one PATH on a computer? If the two seemingly different PATHs that I have mentioned are not supposed to be the same, what is the difference between them, and how can I accomplish my goal of writing the script so that it does what I need it to do?
Please let me know if I need to include any more system-specific info. Thanks in advance for your help.
a question regarding messing with Windows Path variable.
My situation is quite specific:
I was trying to install ffmpeg according to this tutorial https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-install-ffmpeg-on-windows/
The last step was setting the path variable setx /m PATH "C:\ffmpeg\bin;%PATH%"
It worked, however afterwards I noticed that if I try to call python from the command prompt or the powershell if run as administrator, I started getting 'chcp' is not recognized as an internal or external command, (although works fine if run as user), indicating that something is wrong with PATH variables.
I looked into my variables and saw this edit.
Path
It seems to me that the command added the ffmpeg line to the system path and possibly overwritten the original, which is why there are issues when using command prompt as administrator. It probably should have added it to the user Path (not system Path variable)
If that is the case, is there a way to restore the previous system Path variable. Maybe I can paste it from the user Path variable?
I installed ipython in cmd with pip, but when I type ipython in cmd and run it
this error comes:
'ipython' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
As #2e0byo stated in the comment, it's a windows problem, not python and you have two options to solve it:
Executing it by using the path you saved it in.
Adding it to the PATH variable so you can easily execute it from the command line.
First solution:
Go to your path using the command line. For example, my Python is saved in C:\Users\serig\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39. I used cd to go to the directory I wanted and tried to run python which was successful.
Second solution:
Search for environment variables:
Click Environment Variables:
Then you have to add your python directory to the PATH variable (remember to add it to system variables - when I added it to user variables it didn't work). Click edit, then New and add your python directory:
After saving everything you should be able to run python easily without going to the directory it's saved in.
Adding to the path - source
I thought I had this working at one time but recently my command quit working. My research here and abroad is not turning up anything I have not attempted already. Perhaps there is some other variable I am missing that SETX is looking at?
My command:
setx /s servername PATH "%Path%";"c:\program files (x86)\java\jre7\bin";"c:\program files (x86)\java\jre7\bin\client" /m
I have tried the same command against a couple of Win2k8 servers to no avail. This has worked but is now producing the error above. I usually run this within a batch file against a list of several servers to push Java out. (Path to java is not being set unless we manually create the entries when remotely installed.)
The existing path on the server I am attempting to update is this:
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%systemroot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\BMC\Patrol3\bin;C:\BMC\common\globalc\bin\Windows-x86;C:\BMC\common\globalc\bin\Windows-x86-64;C:\BMC\Patrol3\BEST1\9.5.00\bgs\bin
I did clean up a couple duplicate path entries. Aside from that I did not find anything unusual to me.
Edit:
Tweaking the command to remove some of the quotation marks does allow it to run but with that, it imports the path of the local system replacing the remote systems path and appends the desired path entries.
The revised command:
setx /s servername PATH "%Path%;c:\program files (x86)\java\jre7\bin;c:\program files (x86)\java\jre7\bin\client" /m
In hopes of fixing this new problem, I am attempting to run the command with psexec. Doing so brings me back to my original problem, "Default option is not allowed more than '2' time(s)". Depending on how I modify the quotes when using psexec I can get "To many Arguments" or command succeeded, path truncated which ends up being the local path being applied on the remote server once again.
The most promising of my attempts:
psexec \\servername -u domain\user -p p#ssw0rd "c:\windows\system32\setx" "Path "%Path%;c:\program files (x86)\java\jre7\bin;c:\program files (x86)\java\jre7\bin\client" /M"
Using the "-s" option on psexec produces the same error, just less detail.
I was able to update the path value on remote systems by creating a batch file to be executed remotely.
Contents of "setJava7path.cmd"
setx Path "%Path%";"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\java\jre7\bin";"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\java\jre7\bin\client" /m
To execute I utilized psexec which copied the batch file to the remote system and executed the command.
psexec \\systemname -c setJava7path.cmd
It adds / changes a line to my overall deployment script but that is livable.
I've been trying to install the 64bit version of PostgreSQL 9.2 for Windows on my machine (Windows 7 64bit) and get this error:
The environment variable COMPSPEC does not seem to point to the cmd.exe or there is a trailing semi colon present.
I've installed it as Administrator.
I disabled the antivirus (Microsoft Security Essentials) and the firewall.
Running:
"%COMSPEC%" /C "echo test ok"
returned test ok
I've checked my System Environment Variables for trailing semi colon and I couldn't find any.
I then installed the 32bit version and managed to get to the end of the install with a different error message stating: Problem running post-install step. Installation may not complete correctly Error reading the C:\Program Files (x86)\PostgreSQL\9.2\data\postgresql.conf but there is no postgresql.conf file in that directory. It did install the application and when I try to connect the server with the red X on it it says fail at the bottom and it won't connect after I type in my password.
How can I connect to this server connection?
ComSpec is a generic error message for any installation failure.
Identifying the problem
Navigate to below path
c:\Users\XXXXXX\AppData\Local\Temp
Open 'bitrock_installer_XXXX.log'
Check, if you are getting below error:
Script stderr:
'"C:\Users\XXXXX\AppData\Local\Temp\POSTGR~1\TEMP_C~1.BAT"' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
Error running
C:\Users\XXXXX\AppData\Local\Temp/postgresql_installer_47b21c4ea1/temp_check_comspec.bat :
'"C:\Users\XXXXX\AppData\Local\Temp\POSTGR~1\TEMP_C~1.BAT"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
This is a problem with '8.3 file names and directories' (e.g. '\Postgres Install' -> '\POSTGR~1')
Microsoft article on disabling 8.3 file names and directories: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/121007
Solution:
Open command prompt in admin mode
Execute following command to change the format based on your drive or all drives
Sample commands:
fsutil 8dot3name set 1" - disable 8dot3 name creation on all volumes
fsutil 8dot3name set C: 1" - disable 8dot3 name creation on c:
Execute the installation as a user having admin privileges
After install, consider resetting the 8dot3name setting to default (2) to avoid unintended consequences
Hope it solves the problem!
Very easy fix:
Just open Advanced System Settings in Control Panel and create a new System Variable( in the System Variable instead of User Variable section).
In the variable name, enter ComSpec and then in the variable value , enter C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe.
Alternative fix:
If you have already the ComSpec variable in the System Variable section, remove the ;at the end of it this should fix it.
It's not COMPSPEC it's just COMSPEC. Please show the output of:
echo %COMSPEC%
Note that COMSPEC could be set to something different in the Administrator account you're running the installer as. I'm not sure how to find that out, but it might appear in the PostgreSQL installer log, so please upload that and link to it in your post. See Reporting an installation error for info on where to get the installer log.
See the PostgreSQL for Windows FAQ entry Check the COMSPEC environment variable.
Here's a report I made suggesting that the installer should test for this explicitly and here's my blog post on the topic.
I got the same problem, and i found in the log:
Script stderr:
'C:\Users\S300' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Error running C:\Users\S300 (i5)\AppData\Local\Temp/postgresql_installer_56caeadbd6/temp_check_comspec.bat : 'C:\Users\S300' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
I change in User Variables TEMP to D:\TEMP and TMP to D:\TEMP.
And Solved My Problem.
In my case , the Installer was in %USERPROFILE%\DownloadsP{ Windows download folder}, I moved the installer to desktop and ran again. weird it worked lol.
I had a similar problem. After installation, the data folder contained no postgres.conf file. It only contained a single folder named "pg_log".
I described the solution that I used here: Postgres Installation Error reading file postgresql.conf
Basically, it would be helpful to check if the user has full permissions for the postgres folder, and run "init_db" and "pg_ctl start" commands again. If the path contains a space character, try using a relative path for the pg_ctl data folder argument.
I'm running Windows Server 2003 R2, and I have been unable to resolve this problem with the installer, so I resorted to using the binary PostgreSQL package. Hopefully this will be an alternative for others who do not want to perform an OS reinstall.
First, some background (hopefully useful to the developers)
It started out with the postgres service failing to start (the server had been running reliably for over a year). I assumed it was a corrupted PostgreSQL installation, so I uninstalled and attempted to reinstall. I encountered the following error:
There has been an error.
The environment variable COMSPEC does not seem to point to the cmd.exe or there is a trailing semicolon present.
Please fix this variable and restart installation.
However, the COMSPEC variable is set properly, verified with:
echo %COMSPEC%
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
and:
"%COMSPEC%" /C "echo test ok"
test ok
Since this is Windows Server 2003, there is no UCA wrapper around the Administrator account, so that is not causing the problem.
Manual Installation
NET USER postgres /ADD
C:\pgsql\bin\initdb.exe -U postgres -A password -E utf8 -W -D C:\pgsql\data
runas /user:postgres "C:\pgsql\bin\pg_ctl -D C:/pgsql/data -l C:/pgsql/logfile.txt start"
just do it run as administrator and change the environment system variable
like create a new variable 'ComSpec' and value type 'C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe'.
If the installer exe is on a network share that mapped drive might actually not be accessible to the installer as it runs as administrator. This can often happen in some virtual machine arrangements such as running windows in a parallels VM. Copy the installer to a local drive first and you won't have a problem.
What worked for me after trying to enter the commandline given her in cmd.exe
I found it was named cmd1.exe in system32.. so i copied the file and renamed it as cmd.exe and installation finished
Open Environment Variables, you can do this on Windows 7 by typing environment variables in the Search program and files bar when pressing the start button at the bottom left of the desktop. And create a new System Variable(in the 'System Variable' instead of 'User Variable' section).
In the variable name, enter ComSpec and then in the variable value , enter C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe.
That's all. Hope it works!
Alternative fix:
If you already got the ComSpec variable in the System Variable section, remove the ; at the end of it this should fix it.
First find the path to cmd.exe(mostly it is C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe).
Go to the enviornment variable and add this path to system variable path.And also create new variable in user variable called ComSpec and add this path as value. And you are ready to go.