Environment Property
Archived: 2026-04-06 00:48:38 UTC
Returns the WshEnvironment object (a collection of environment variables).
 object.Environment ([strType])
object
WshShell object.
strType
Optional. Specifies the location of the environment variable.
The Environment property contains the WshEnvironment object (a collection of environment variables). If
strType is supplied, it specifies where the environment variable resides with possible values of System, User,
Volatile, or Process. If strType is not supplied, the Environment property returns different environment variable
types depending on the operating system.
Type of Environment Variable Operating System
System Microsoft Windows NT/2000
Process Windows 95/98/Me
Note
For Windows95/98/Me, only one strType is permitted — Process.
The following table lists some of the variables that are provided with the Windows operating system. Scripts can
access environment variables that have been set by other applications.
Note
None of the following variables are available from the Volatile type.
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Name Description System User
Process
(NT/
2000)
Process
(98/ME)
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS
Number of processors
running on the machine.
X - X -
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE
Processor type of the
user's workstation.
X - X -
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER
Processor ID of the user's
workstation.
X - X -
PROCESSOR_LEVEL
Processor level of the
user's workstation.
X - X -
PROCESSOR_REVISION
Processor version of the
user's workstation.
X - X -
OS
Operating system on the
user's workstation.
X - X -
COMSPEC
Executable file for the
command prompt
(typically cmd.exe).
X - X X
HOMEDRIVE
Primary local drive
(typically the C drive).
- - X -
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Name Description System User
Process
(NT/
2000)
Process
(98/ME)
HOMEPATH
Default directory for
users (typically
\users\default in
Windows 2000).
- - X -
PATH
PATH environment
variable.
X X X X
PATHEXT
Extensions for executable
files (typically .com,
.exe, .bat, or .cmd).
X - X -
PROMPT
Command prompt
(typically $P$G).
- - X X
SYSTEMDRIVE
Local drive on which the
system directory resides
(typically c:\).
- - X -
SYSTEMROOT
System directory (for
example, c:\winnt). This
is the same as WINDIR.
- - X -
WINDIR
System directory (for
example, c:\winnt). This
is the same as
SYSTEMROOT.
X - X X
TEMP Directory for storing
temporary files (for
- X X X
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Name Description System User
Process
(NT/
2000)
Process
(98/ME)
example, c:\temp).
TMP
Directory for storing
temporary files (for
example, c:\temp).
- X X X
The following code retrieves the system environment variable NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS.
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set WshSysEnv = WshShell.Environment("SYSTEM")
WScript.Echo WshSysEnv("NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS")
var WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
var WshSysEnv = WshShell.Environment("SYSTEM");
WScript.Echo(WshSysEnv("NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS"));
WshShell Object
WshEnvironment Object
Source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fd7hxfdd.aspx
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