Environment variables do not expand in the registry on a Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" Beta 2-based, Windows Vista Beta 2-based, or Windows XP-based computer (911089)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows Server "Longhorn" Beta 2
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 English (United States)

Beta Information

This article discusses a Beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this Beta product. For information about how to obtain support for a Beta release, see the documentation that is included with the Beta product files, or check the Web location where you downloaded the release.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to expand the environment variables in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment registry key, some variables do not expand on a computer that is running one of the following operating systems:

The Microsoft Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" Beta 2 operating system
The Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 operating system
Microsoft Windows XP

CAUSE

This issue may occur if the following conditions are true:

You changed the environment variables in the Properties dialog box of My Computer.
Some environment variables contain more than one dependency.

For example, this issue occurs if you change an environment variable in the Properties dialog box of My Computer and the environment variable has the following dependencies:

Environment variable "C" is defined as "%B%."
Environment variable "B" is defined as "%A%."

In this example, environment variable "C" has an expanded value that depends on how "A" is defined.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, remove the many levels of environment variable dependencies. You can have one level of environment variable dependency.

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	6/8/2006
Keywords:	kbtshoot kbprb KB911089 kbAudITPRO