Set path from command line

Users can run an executable from windows command prompt either by giving the absolute path of the file or just by the executable file name. In the latter case, Windows searches for the executable in a list of folders which is configured in environment variables. These environment variables are as below.

1. System path
2. User path

The values of these variables can be checked in system properties( Run sysdm.cpl from Run or computer properties). Initially user specific path environment variable will be empty. Users can add paths of the directories having executables to this variable. Administrators can modify the system path environment variable also.

How to set path from command line?

In Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 we can set path from command line using ‘setx’ command.

For example, to add c:\dir1\dir2 to the path variable, we can run the below command.

Alternative way is to use Windows resource kit tools ‘pathman.exe‘. Using this command we can even remove a directory from path variable. See download windows resource kit tools. This works for Windows 7 also.

Add directory to system path environment variable:

Open administrator command prompt
Run the below command

Remove path from system path environment variable:
Run the below command from elevated command prompt

Setting user path environment variable

For user environment varlables, admin privileges are not required. We can run the below command to add a directory to user path environment variable.

To remove a directory from user path, you can run the below command.

Default option is not allowed more than ‘2’ time(s)

You get this error if you have not enclosed ‘path’ in double quotes. See the below example for setting the path of firefox.

Now if you move %path% to be in the double quotes

Could a context entry be created for folders, perhaps an extended one… to add to path?

what about a multi-verb option, like copy as path?

hi, when i use setx at an administrator command line, it creates a USER variable, NOT the SYSTEM variable. What am i doing wrong? How do i change the SYSTEM path at command prompt? -thx

Johny Why
Answer: Try add the parameter /M

Hi, is there a way I can add an extra variable instead on deleting the currently one and put a new Variable on the Path.

I used the command setx /M “c:\Options”, and what it does is delete the current one and then puts that one there, all I want is to add the new variable to the current one. -thx

Nuno, pathman described above does exactly that. You can download the resource tools kit and get it.

setx path “%path%;C:\yourFolder”

To set path for java & javac, can I add the paths to PATH or do I need to create the environment variable JAVA_HOME. I don’t have this defined, but windows does not seem to be able to find java binaries on my system.

You can directly add the folder to PATH. No need to define JAVA_HOME. However, adding JAVA_HOME separately avoids cluttering and helps to easily understand what is added.

hello, can someone plz explain this result? After setting path, it did not change. This was run from an Administrator command-line:

C:\Windows\system32>setx path “C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft VS Code\bin”

SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.

C:\Windows\system32>path
PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft VS Code\bin;D:\Program Files (x86)\metapad36;D:\Program Files (x86)\metapad36″ /M

Why won’t this work?

SET EPO = D:\Program Files (x86)\McAfee\ePolicy Orchestrator
PATH = %PATH%;%EPO%\jre\bin;%EPO%\apache2\bin

In windows 10 set path %path%; not working. it’s work like :
setx “%path%;C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\MinGW\bin”

By unfortunately I deleted my system default path. How could I able to find my system path?

Unfortunately I deleted several files with unremembered path names. This article was useful

The following used to work for me when I am in MSDOS environment. Lately I get error messages such as INCLUDE not found. Why is this so?

Used to work
SET PLL =c:\CL5\PLL
SET PLT =c:\CL5\PLL
SET INCLUDE =c:\CL5\INCLUDE
SET PRG =c:\IMS\PRG
SET LIB =c:\CL5\LIB
SET OBJ =c:\CL5\OBJ
PATH =c:\IMS\EXE;\CL5\BIN;\CL5\NG;\CL5\PLL

pathman is one of many tools of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools

Note: The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools are not supported on 64-bit platforms.

Huh.
When I did that on Windows 10 v1903, using setx, it replaced the USER scope paths with the SYSTEM scope paths.
Now I’m not sure what was in the old user path.
So, uh… Be careful out there.
And if anyone has a solution how to avoid that, please let me know
Thanks

Command-line switches for Microsoft software update packages

This article describes the consistent set of command-line switches that Microsoft is adopting for deploying packages that contain software updates.

Original product version:  Windows 10 – all editions
Original KB number: В 824687

Summary

Microsoft is adopting a consistent set of command-line switches that you can use to deploy packages that contain software updates, such as security updates, critical updates, and hotfixes. This article describes these new command-line switches and their behaviors.

Packages that support these new command-line switches also support earlier command-line switches for backwards compatibility. However, usage of the earlier switches should be discontinued as this support may be removed in future software updates.

For additional information about command-line switches that are used by Windows software update packages, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

262841 Command-line switches for Windows software update packages

For additional information about command-line switches used by Windows Installer, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

For additional information about the standard terminology that Microsoft is adopting to describe software updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

More information

Microsoft is adopting the following command-line switches for software update packages:

/help; /h; /? — Displays a dialog box that shows the correct usage of the Setup command, including a list of all its command-line switches and their behaviors. You can display this help information in the command-line interface (CLI) or the graphical user interface (GUI). If you use any command-line switch incorrectly, this help switch is invoked and the correct usage is displayed. The dialog box also provides references to more online information.

/quiet — Runs the Setup program or the removal program in «quiet» mode. The program doesn’t prompt the user with any messages. The program enters all messages in a log file. By default, the program restarts the computer with no prompt or warning if the process requires a restart for the changes to take effect. To change the default restart behavior, use a different restart mode.

/passive — Runs the Setup program or the removal program in «passive» mode. The program doesn’t prompt the user with any error messages. The user sees a progress bar that indicates that the installation or the removal is occurring. The user can’t cancel the installation or the removal. By default, the program invokes the /warnrestart switch. If the program is installing multiple updates, the progress bar indicates the progress of the installation or the removal for each update.

/norestart — Doesn’t restart the computer after the installation or the removal, even if the process requires a restart for the changes to take effect.

/forcerestart — Restarts the computer after the installation or the removal, even if the process doesn’t require a restart for the changes to take effect. Restarting forces programs that are running to close.

/warnrestart[:x ] — Invokes a dialog box that warns the user that a restart will occur in x seconds (in 30 seconds if no value is specified). For example, to warn that a restart will occur in 60 seconds, type /warnrestart:60. The dialog box contains a Cancel button and a Restart Now button. If the user clicks Cancel, the computer isn’t restarted.

/promptrestart — Prompts the user that the computer must be restarted for the changes to take effect. The user can select whether to restart the computer.

/uninstall — Removes the package.

/log — Enables the user to define the path for the local log file. This switch invokes the default logging behavior.

/extract — Enables you to extract the installation files to a specified folder.

Run command for Windows update

There are couple of Run commands for Windows update. The run commands are very handy to launch an application quickly without the need to find the same in list of programs or on filesystem. WindowsВ has a run command for almost every application or configuration tool.

The run commands for Windows update are wuapp (or) control update . So to launch Windows update from Run, you need to perform the below steps.

1. OpenВ Run with [Win]+[R] shortcut or from Start menu.
2. Type in either of ‘wuapp’ or ‘control update’ and press ‘Enter’
   

This launches windows update configuration window. Here you can click ‘Settings’ and then configure how you want to install updates on to your computer.

If you just want to trigger updates click on ‘Check for updates’. Note that there’s no run command that can trigger update directly

For Windows 10 the run command is:
ms-settings:windowsupdate

I prefer run commands over other ways as it seems faster to me. Here are some run commands which I use daily for opening various windows applications .
On screen Keyboard – osk
Calculator – calc
WordPad – write
Windows Media Player – wmplayer
Windows Fax and Scan – wfs
Snipping Tools – snippingtool
Paint – mspaint
Notepad – notepad
Task manager – taskmgrt/
Sticky Notes – stikyno

For Windows v1809+ I find this works from the command line:

You can also stop & start the Windows Update service prior:

How To Run Windows Update From Command Line

In Windows 10, Windows Update can be found in Settings –> Update & Security –> Windows Update. Normally Windows Update keeps on running in the background and will install new updates automatically.

You can also run Windows Update manually to check for new updates at any time. Here are three ways to check for new Windows updates.

Check for Windows updates using Windows Settings

To check for new updates and configure Windows Update settings, follow the steps below:

1. Open Windows Settings (Windows key + i).
2. Choose Update & Security.
3. Choose Windows Update from the left hand menu.
4. Press the Check for updates button in the right hand pane.

Check for updates

Run Windows Update from PowerShell (Command-line)

There is a PowerShell module for Windows Update. You can install and run the module to check for new updates. There are three steps for running Windows Update through PowerShell. Run the following commands step by step:

1. Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate Install Module PSWindowsUpdate

This will install the Windows Update module in PowerShell.
Get-WindowsUpdate Get WindowsUpdate

This command will check for updates.
Install-WindowsUpdate Install WindowsUpdate

This command will install the available updates (which were listed in step 2)

Run Windows Update from Command Prompt (Command-line)

Windows Update can also be run through legacy CMD. The only limitation running Windows Update through command prompt is that it won’t show any progress. Only results are shown. Let’s see how to run it:

• Go to Run –> cmd
• Run the following command to check for new updates:
  wuauclt /detectnow
• Run the following command to install new updates
  wuauclt /updatenow

Since the command prompt does not show any progress, a better approach would be to check and install updates at the same time. Here’s the command for this:

wuauclt /detectnow /updatenow

The above mentioned command will work in all versions of Windows including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. But if you are using Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016, you can use UsoClient command which has more options than wuauclt. You can run UsoClient with the following switches:

StartScan – Start checking for updates

StartDownload – Start downloading updates

StartInstall – Start installing downloaded updates

RestartDevice – Restart Windows after updates are installed

ScanInstallWait – Check for updates, download available updates and install them

Hopefully this will be useful in situations where you want to automate certain Windows functions. What other purposes do you want to use command line options for running Windows Update?

Continue Reading:

Usman Khurshid is a seasoned IT Pro with over 15 years of experience in the IT industry. He has experience in everything from IT support, helpdesk, sysadmin, network admin, and cloud computing. He is also certified in Microsoft Technologies (MCTS and MCSA) and also Cisco Certified Professional in Routing and Switching. Reach him at Twitter @usmank11

14 thoughts on “ How To Run Windows Update From Command Line ”

Thank you Usman! Wow Microsoft has a new cli USOClient.exe awesome!

Thank you. Refurbished machine – needed to update in order to move from other machine to “new to me” machine after just getting ti to cooperate with the network. I have never run across a machine that would not update before. The cmd options did not work, but the PS option was exactly what I needed. Added to my bag of tricks. Thank you so much!!

usoclient.exe /StartScan does not update the shown ‘Last checked date’ shown in the GUI on a Windows Server 2016 or 2019.

PS C:\> Start-Service wuauserv -Verbose
PS C:\> $updateSession = new-object -com “Microsoft.Update.Session”;$updates=$updateSession.CreateupdateSearcher().Search($criteria).Updates
PS C:\> (New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate).DetectNow()

This is work on a Windows 10 – the Last checked time is updated in the GUI
BUT it’s not workting om Windows 2016 or 2019

Any know of a way to make this work on a Server 2016 ??

I don’t get any of these from article to work. Not even: Start-Service wuauserv -Verbose

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Start-Service wuauserv -Verbose
VERBOSE: Performing the operation “Start-Service” on target “wuauserv (wuauserv)”.
Start-Service : Failed to start service ‘wuauserv (wuauserv)’.
At line:1 char:1
+ Start-Service wuauserv -Verbose
+

+ CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController:ServiceController) [Start-Service],
ServiceCommandException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : StartServiceFailed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StartServiceCommand

Please run PowerShell with administrative privileges.

usoclient StartScan does NOT make any changes to the Last checked date shown in the GUI
Neither does the Powershell command Get-WindowsUpdate

In previous Windows I had to updating the Last checked value in registry after performing a scan using the API (as they dont). But MS has moved the location to an unknown place i 2016 and 2019.

Anyone who knows how to update the “Last checked date” from CMD or API .

Function Force-WSUSCheckin($Computer)
<
Invoke-Command -computername $Computer -scriptblock < Start-Service wuauserv -Verbose >
# Have to use psexec with the -s parameter as otherwise we receive an “Access denied” message loading the comobject
$Cmd = ‘$updateSession = new-object -com “Microsoft.Update.Session”;$updates=$updateSession.CreateupdateSearcher().Search($criteria).Updates’
& c:\bin\psexec.exe -s \\$Computer powershell.exe -command $Cmd
Write-host “Waiting 10 seconds for SyncUpdates webservice to complete to add to the wuauserv queue so that it can be reported on”
Start-sleep -seconds 10
Invoke-Command -computername $Computer -scriptblock
<
# Now that the system is told it CAN report in, run every permutation of commands to actually trigger the report in operation
wuauclt /detectnow
(New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate).DetectNow()
wuauclt /reportnow
c:\windows\system32\UsoClient.exe startscan
>
>

Hi Glenn, thank you for such a detailed explanation.

Get-WindowsUpdate: The ‘Get-WindowsUpdate’ command was found in the module ‘PSWindowsUpdate’, but the module could
not be loaded. For more information, run ‘Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate’.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-WindowsUpdate
+

+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Get-WindowsUpdate:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CouldNotAutoloadMatchingModule

To remedy that, please try the following:
1. Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
2. Run Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate
3. Try running Get-WindowsUpdate again.
This worked for me.