I am trying to set the PATH environment variable in Windows 7 using a .bat file; however it does not seem to work.
I am using this Windows command:
set PATH=%cd%;%path%
pause
However, it only appears to be valid for this cmd instance. I want it to be permanent, since I first set the PATH and then run a program which needs to locate the libraries in that folder.
Use setx.exe instead of set.
setx PATH "%cd%;%path%;"
pause
Note that this sets the path for all future cmd instances, but not for the current one. If you need that, also run your original set command.
The second parameter needs to be quoted if it contains spaces (which %path% always has). Be warned that if the last character in your %path% is a backslash, it will escape the trailing quote and the last path entry will stop working. I get around that by appending a semicolon before the closing quote.
If you don't want to risk getting ";;;;;;" at the end of your path after repeated runs, then instead strip any trailing backslash from the %path% variable before setting, and it will work correctly.