Setting and getting Windows environment variables from the command prompt?
Solution 1:
To make the environment variable accessible globally you need to set it in the registry. As you've realised by just using:
set NEWVAR=SOMETHING
you are just setting it in the current process space.
According to this page you can use the setx command:
setx NEWVAR SOMETHING
setx is built into Windows 7, but for older versions may only be available if you install the Windows Resource Kit
Solution 2:
We can also use "setx var variable /M" to set the var to system environment variable level instead of user level.
Note: This command should be run as administrator.