Sometimes you are told by a software (especially the development tools like Python, GCC etc) to add their folder’s path to the system PATH variable. The effect of adding a folder to the system PATH variable is that when you issue a command in the command line window, or in the Run box, Windows would search all the folders listed in the system PATH variable.
Open System Properties by right-clicking on My Computer and selecting Properties. You can also open the System Properties window by pressing the key combination Windows logo key + Pause. The Windows key is the key on the side of the Alt key with a Windows logo printed on it.
- Click on the Advanced tab to select it.
- Click on the button labeled Environment variables.
- Click on the PATH in list of System variables to select it.
- Click on the button labeled Edit.
- Click in the text field labeled Variable value and move the cursor to the end by pressing the End key. Append a semicolon (;) in the end if not already there. After the semi-colon you just type in the end, type the folder path you wanted to add to the system PATH variable. For example, if you wanted to add c:python25, type c:python25.
- Click the button labeled OK to save the changes. Close all the windows opened in the process, by clicking on the respective OK buttons.