Environment Variable Path pointing to different system

Question

I am not sure whether it is the right question to ask or not.

I have an exe which gets the value of the environment variable (Path) and searches for the dlls which are required for this exe to continue. So the environment variable's path is the local path something like : C:\Program Files\Security

Is it possible make this path a remote one ? It can be like : //10.x.x.x/sys/security or //sysname/sys/security .

Is it possible ?
Is there any mandatory that environment variable's path should always point the local machine's path ?

Thank you.

Did you just try it? Otherwise try to map the remote folder to e.g. drive Z:, then it should work. But I never tried it myself. It worked, I just tried. Just add the remote path to path. I don't know about internet locations though, but in your local network it's no problem at all. — Sebastian Höffner
– Sebastian Höffner, Commented Feb 13, 2014 at 10:13

mockinterface · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13 10:16:56Z

1

It is indeed possible, but is a bad idea.

A system path that contains a UNC path may cause severe system problems and severe software problems. Therefore, a system path that contains a UNC path is unsupported.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978856

Although it says it applies to the server editions, I suspect that the general advice applies to Windows in general.

answered Feb 13, 2014 at 10:16

mockinterface

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2 Comments

mn777 Over a year ago

I guess, the question is misunderstood here. Environment Variable name will be like SECU and the value for this variable will be a local path like C:\Program Files\.... Instead of this Can I maintain some network path similar to //systemname/sys/files/...

mockinterface Over a year ago

Generally - yes, and generally - bad idea, and to qualify on top of it - it would all depend on the way the target application uses the env variable. If that exe uses WinAPI properly it would likely work, but would be, again, wrong way to misuse the assumption of the exe that it'd be a local path. Mapping the drive to the path as suggested in the comments is the better way to proceed.

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