Batch variable with variable inside of it

Question

I'm making a program in Batch to easily set your IP settings, but I'm getting an error.

This is causing the problem:

for /f "usebackq tokens=3* skip=2" %%D IN (`reg query "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v Desktop`) do set desktop=%%D

So this provides an error:

powershell "$s=(New-Object -COM WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut('%desktop%\IP Configurator.lnk');$s.TargetPath='%0';$s.IconLocation = 'C:\Windows\System32\Shell32.dll,273';$s.Save();$bytes = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes('%desktop%\IP Configurator.lnk');$bytes[0x15] = $bytes[0x15] -bor 0x20;[System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes('%desktop%\IP Configurator.lnk', $bytes);Write-Output 'Shortcut created (or there was an error), press a key to continue'"

But it outputs this error, which results in multiple errors because of it:

Unable to save shortcut "C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\programs\IP_Configurator\%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\IP Configurator.lnk".
At line:1 char:235
+ ... conLocation = 'C:\Windows\System32\Shell32.dll,273';$s.Save();$bytes  ...
+                                                         ~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], DirectoryNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException

What I don't get is that it doesn't get the desktop right, and I think it's because it isn't actually calculating what the %USERPROFILE% is, and just literally uses the variable name with the parentheses. How can I get it to just read what the variable value is?

The path C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\programs\IP_Configurator\%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\IP Configurator.lnk does not exist; note that %USERPROFILE% contains a full path, so it expands to C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\programs\IP_Configurator\C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\IP Configurator.lnk... — aschipfl
– aschipfl, Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 18:13

Magoo · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-29 18:09:03Z

1

for /f "usebackq tokens=3* skip=2" %%D IN (`reg query "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders" /v Desktop`) do set desktop=%%D
CALL SET "desktop=%desktop%"
ECHO %desktop%

should cure your problem by resolving the %uerprofile%

answered Mar 29, 2016 at 18:09

Magoo

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