How to Read a User/System Environment Variable Using VBScript

At times, when programming with vbscript, a programmer will want to read an existing environment variable.

This can be accomplished by accessing the Windows Script
Host via VBScript and making use of the shell object

The program example below will walk you through the steps necessary to accomplish this task and give you a real world example to learn from.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• Windows(98 or newer)

1. 1. Create a User Environment Variable
   
   Create a user environment variable by right-clicking on “My Computer”, selecting Properties – Advanced tab - Environment Variables and under User variables select New. This will open a New User Variable window. For Variable name:, type test. For Variable value:, type your name and select OK.

2. 2. Open Notepad
   
   Go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - Notepad
   Save your file as C:\Temp\ReadEnvVar.vbs

3. 3. Copy Code
   
   Copy and Paste the following code into Notepad.
   
   '**************************************************************
   Option explicit
   
   'Declare Variables
   Dim WshShl, Shell, UserVar
   
   'Set objects
   Set WshShl = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
   Set Shell = WshShl.Environment("User")
   
   'Read variable
   UserVar = Shell("Test")
   
   'Output value to msgbox
   WScript.Echo "Your name is " & UserVar & "!"
   
   'Cleanup Objects
   Set WshShl = Nothing
   Set Shell = Nothing
   
   'Exit Script
   WScript.Quit()
   '**************************************************************
   Save your file and exit Notepad

4. 
    
   Your Name

   4.Run Script
   
   Browse to C:\Temp\ReadEnvVar.vbs using My Computer or Explore, depending on what you're use to.
   Double-click on ReadEnvVar.vbs. You should get a message box as shown stating your name.
   
   Select "OK"
   
   If you prefer to read a System environment variable, replace this line in your script
   Set Shell = WshShl.Environment("User")
   With this line
   Set Shell = WshShl.Environment("System")
   
   Replace this line
   UserVar = Shell("Test")
   With this line.
   UserVar = Shell("Insert system variable you want to read here")
   
   Replace this line
   WScript.Echo "Your name is " & UserVar & "!"
   With this line
   WScript.Echo UserVar
   
   So your vbscript makes sense, you may also want to replace the UserVar variable with SysVar, but your script should function just fine without this change.

5. Congratulations! You've written a VBScript capable of reading a user or system environment variable.

Tips & Warnings

• When working with vbscript(.vbs) files you'll want to right-click on them and choose Edit to modify them, otherwise you will run the script.

Resources

• VisualBasicScript.com