Does Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable work in UWP?

MG Bhadurudeen 626

Hello, does Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable work in UWP? You might ask me to test it myself, I have tested it, but no results.
It neither throws any exception nor does anything. Is there any mistake with me?

Regards.

Roy Li - MSFT 33,366 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-08T01:57:23.027+00:00

According to the document: Environment Class, it says the Environment class is supported in UWP. I made a simple test with the sample code provided in the document, and it shows the SetEnvironmentVariable method works correctly. I could get the value that I saved using the SetEnvironmentVariable method. Please double-check if you use the method correctly. Or you could share your code snippet that does not work here and we shall take a look at it.
MG Bhadurudeen 626 Reputation points

2021-01-10T06:08:32.98+00:00

It seems strange. It does not work on my project.

Please look into this:
https://github.com/sunsewingmachine/UwpSetEnvironmentVariable
MG Bhadurudeen 626 Reputation points

2021-01-10T06:16:38.453+00:00
Sorry, I missed to share this info, it retrieves the value, if it is from the code. But unable to see that entry in the system's dialog box.

Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("Test1", "Value1"); var env = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("Test1"); Debug.WriteLine("Test1: " + env.ToString());

Output:
Test1: Value1
MG Bhadurudeen 626 Reputation points

2021-01-10T06:26:29.173+00:00

I am integrating google cloud firestore, it requires the system environment variable to be set to access its credentials path. If I set using the above method, Google authentication does not recognize it.

If I set it manually or If I set the same in a c# forms (desktop) app,
it sets the system environment variable, which appears in the system's dialog, which is recognized by the google authentication system.

There is certainly something to be looked at. Does UWP act in a different way?
Roy Li - MSFT 33,366 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-11T07:29:12.57+00:00

Well, I got your point. You want to set the value directly to the System environment variable instead of a process environment variable. I have to say that the behavior you are getting is expected. The Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable is able to use in UWP apps, so you can call it without errors. But UWP apps are running in the sandbox, so it has limitations when accessing to the system values. You could not set System environment variable or User environment variable in UWP apps.
MG Bhadurudeen 626 Reputation points

2021-01-11T09:09:33.15+00:00

You are correct. I too thought the same.

Environment variables are 3 types. Uwp apps can create only the 3rd type, i.e, environment variable for the current process.

Anyhow, there is no use of it for the google cloud authentication system.
Roy Li - MSFT 33,366 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-12T02:53:56.887+00:00

Yes, if you really need it, you could try to package a console app with your UWP app and use FullTrustProcessLauncher class to launch it. Then you could call the Environment class in the console app. You could refer to @Fay 's answer here: Launch .exe app.
MG Bhadurudeen 626 Reputation points

2021-01-14T05:57:39.827+00:00

That's nice. Thank you for your great help! I accept if you post as an answer.
Roy Li - MSFT 33,366 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-14T07:07:16.9+00:00

Sure, I'll post it as Answer and you could accept it.

Accepted answer

Roy Li - MSFT 33,366 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-14T07:06:43.313+00:00

Hello,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

does Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable work in UWP

I have to say that the behavior you are getting is expected. The Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable is able to use in UWP apps, so you can call it without errors. But UWP apps are running in the sandbox, so it has limitations when accessing to the system values. You could not set System environment variable or User environment variable in UWP apps.

If you really need it, you could try to package a console app with your UWP app and use FullTrustProcessLauncher class to launch it. Then you could call the Environment class in the console app. You could refer to @Fay 's answer here: Launch .exe app.

Thank you.

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