#00015: Is there a system PATH Environment Variable Size Limit in XP?

[FAQ]

Question:

Is there a system PATH Environment Variable Size Limit in Windows XP?

Answer:

In general, the maximum individual environment variable size is 8,192 bytes.

The maximum total environment variable size for *all* variables, which includes variable names and the equal sign, is 65,536 KB.

The system PATH environment variable is limited to 1023 characters, plus the terminating null character, for a total of 1024 characters.

There is a XP hotfix available to increase this limit to 2,048 bytes. In Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the PATH environment variable limit is increased to 2,048 characters.