How To: View the value of Windows environment variables

INTRODUCTION

Environment variables are, in short, variables that describe the environment in which programs run. The concept of environment variables exists in most operating systems, from Linux to OS X to Windows. In principle, they mean the same thing but the way they are implemented and used may differ. A common variable is named PATH. Many programs need to know where to find certain files, and the PATH variable tells them where they can find what they need.

This article helps you to view the values of all currently defined environment variables in Windows.

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Open a command prompt
In the command prompt run the following commands one after the other, pressing ENTER key after completing each command.
Important information
cd %temp%
set > env_vars.txt
notepad env_vars.txt
A notepad window should be opened with all defined environment variables and their values. The name of the variable is on the left hand side of the '=' sign and the value is on the right hand side.