dmd installer clobbers PATH on Windows (sometimes)

[Vladimir Panteleev]

On Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:58:08 +0300, Brad Anderson <eco at gnuk.net> wrote:

> there is no way (that I know of) to look at what your PATH was before it  
> was destroyed and the PATH is often updated by installers (as it is with  
> dmd).

If you haven't rebooted your machine yet - Windows stores a backup copy of  
the system registry hives for the "last known good configuration" boot  
feature. These copies are stored in C:\Windows\Repair (XP and before) or  
C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack (Vista and after). You will not be able  
to access these files directly, though - you'll need to use a tool or risk  
a poweroff and boot from another OS. Once you have a readable copy, you  
can "mount" the hives to an empty key in your registry with RegEdit. PATH  
is located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session  
Manager\Environment (though you won't see CurrentControlSet in the mounted  
hive, it's a symbolic link of sorts to one of the ControlSetXXX keys).

-- 
Best regards,
  Vladimir                            mailto:vladimir at thecybershadow.net