How to Edit Environment Variables on Windows 10 or 11

Editing your PC's environment variables can save you time in Command Prompt and make your scripts more concise. It also lets you customize where Windows stores certain files. This is what you need to know about getting started adding, editing, or removing entries from your Environment Variables on Windows.

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How Environment Variables Work

Environment variables can be used to point to or set important directories, like the location of the Windows Temp folder, or they can they relay important information about your PC, like the version of Windows it is running or the number of processor cores it has available. Environment variables can be read by any program or script that runs on your computer. Environment variables can be defined for individual user accounts, or on a system-wide basis.

One environment variable of note is the Path variable. Path defines what folders are checked for executables when a command is run in a terminal or a script. Take Notepad as an example—you can type notepad into Command Prompt and it will launch immediately. If you type chrome, however, you'll get an error message. The error occurs because the Notepad executable is in a folder defined in the Path, but the Chrome executable is not.

Attempting to run Chrome using PowerShell in the Windows Terminal without Google Chrome on the PATH.

By default, Path only points to a few Windows folders, but you can easily add more.

How to Add or Edit Environment Variables

There are some minor differences between the user interfaces of Windows 10 and Windows 11, but the basic process of editing environment variables is the same.

To configure your environment variables, click the Start button, then type environment properties into the search bar and hit Enter. In the System Properties window, click "Environment Variables."

Make the advanced tab is selected, then click "Environment Variables."

Click on the variable you'd like to change, click "Edit."

Selecting the environment variable that controls how many processors the system reports.

Many environment variables will simply take a name and value, like "Number of processors." All you have to do to edit them is to change the value, and click "OK."

The number of CPU cores set in the Environment Variables.

Adding an environment variable works the exact same way, except you must specify the variable name and value. The variable value can take multiple values if you want, but the values must be separated by semicolons. Once you've named your variable and assigned a value, click "OK."

Creating a new Environment Variable.

Some environment variables, like Path, look a little different, though they function in exactly the same way. The Path variable is given as a list from which you can add, edit, or delete entries.

The options to create a new entry on the PATH, or modify or delete an existing one.

You can add another folder to the Path by clicking "New," and then specifying the folder.

Select

Add FFmpeg to Your Windows Path

FFmpeg is a popular (especially on Linux) command-line utility for converting one media type to another. Though most commonly used with video formats, it is also capable of converting images, if you want to use it that way. First, download FFmpeg and extract it to any location on your PC that you like. In my case, I put it in my C:\ directory just because it is convenient. The executable we need is actually in the bin subfolder.

The location of FFmpeg on the example PC.

The specific path for this example is:

C:\ffmpeg-2025-09-22-git-c9168717bf-full_build\bin

With that path handy, head over to your Environment Variables window. I want ffmpeg to be accessible to all users on this PC, so I double-clicked "Path" in the System Variable section. If you want, you could also put it in the top section—user variables—which only makes it accessible to the current user.

Double-click path in the system variables section.

Once there, click "New," enter the directory into the empty field (which will always appear at the bottom of the list by default), then click "OK."

Click the "New" button, add the directory, then click "OK."

Once that is done, you'll be able to just type FFmpeg in any directory without manually pointing at the executable every single time.

If you write a lot of batch or PowerShell scripts, or frequently use non-Windows command-line applications, it is probably worth the effort to customize your environment variables—you'll save a ton of time in the long run.