SetEnvironmentVariableW function (processenv.h)

Article
02/09/2023

Sets the contents of the specified environment variable for the current process.

Syntax

BOOL SetEnvironmentVariableW(
  [in]           LPCWSTR lpName,
  [in, optional] LPCWSTR lpValue
);

Parameters

[in] lpName

The name of the environment variable. The operating system creates the environment variable if it does not exist and lpValue is not NULL.

[in, optional] lpValue

The contents of the environment variable.

The maximum size of a user-defined environment variable is 32,767 characters. There is no technical limitation on the size of the environment block. However, there are practical limits depending on the mechanism used to access the block. For example, a batch file cannot set a variable that is longer than the maximum command line length. For more information, see Environment Variables.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: The total size of the environment block for a process may not exceed 32,767 characters.

If this parameter is NULL, the variable is deleted from the current process's environment.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

This function has no effect on the system environment variables or the environment variables of other processes.

Examples

For an example, see Changing Environment Variables.

Note

The processenv.h header defines SetEnvironmentVariable as an alias which automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows XP [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	processenv.h (include Windows.h on Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2)
Library	Kernel32.lib
DLL	Kernel32.dll

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